Daily-Deals Profile: Q&A With zulily

This continues our series profiling daily-deals companies. The purpose of these Q&A sessions is to give local businesses, marketers and others in the industry a glimpse into what some deal providers out there are doing. These profiles are also meant to offer different perspectives on the future of the deals industry.

Today we’re featuring zulily, a daily-deals site that focuses on providing discounted products for mothers.

Read the company’s answers to some of our questions and find out what it expects to see in the industry next year, why its deals last 72 hours and how it plans to use its recent round of funding.

Please introduce yourself.
Jessica Shapiro, director of brand and communications. I grew up in Seattle, moved to the East Coast for a number of years and returned to Seattle to get my MBA and begin my career in marketing. Before zulily, I was marketing director at Starbucks, and before that I spent seven years at Microsoft. I’m a mother of three: a daughter and twin boys.

How would you summarize what zulily is in one sentence?
zulily is the leading daily-deals site for moms, where every mom can find boutique products for herself, her kids and her home.

How did zulily get its start, and how was the name chosen?
Two dad entrepreneurs saw an opportunity as they geared up for fatherhood; there is huge fragmentation in the kids’ space. The market offered either big-box retailers with mass product, or high-end boutiques with limited offerings at high prices.

The name “zulily” came about by numerous rounds of discussion, expert advice and mom approvals.

Do you have any numbers you can share?
zulily launches over 35 new sales events a day, and moms get to discover more than 1,400 products each morning on the site. We have over 10 million members and over 600 full-time employees.

Why do zulily’s deals last 72 hours? Why was that duration chosen?
Seventy-two hours allows members to browse our sales events and have the opportunity to act fast, but not feel like they missed out on a great deal. We also take into consideration how much inventory we have, so no one is viewing a sales event that has everything sold out on its last day.

What sets zulily apart from other deals sites like Groupon and LivingSocial?
We’re focused on mom. Also, we don’t just sell things — we tell our brands’ stories. Our in-house writers think of the site as a working newspaper pushing out new content and stories every day. We work to make the small and medium-sized companies we feature hero for a day.

We hear from our moms that they shop a variety of offline and online retailers. While there are other small players out there, we think what we do is unique.

Speaking of Groupon and LivingSocial, what do you think about their recent struggles? What does that say about the industry as a whole?
In regards to the industry, it’s a balance of keeping members and vendors happy. That’s one thing that zulily does extremely well. We surprise and delight our members each morning by offering new, fresh brands and products, many of which are being discovered for the first time. For our vendors, we let them be the hero for a day. We have many vendors that have become even more successful by working with zulily, whether it’s Jelly the Pug increasing sales by 50 percent, Kate Quinn Organics launching a new line with us or Diva Daze being able to open up an autism pony therapy program with the extra income she’s received from zulily.

What do you expect to see happen in the deals industry in 2013?
I think you’ll see more deal sites focus on mobile and personalization. Those are two areas that we are dedicated to pursuing more of in 2013.

What are the biggest lessons zulily has learned since it began?
It’s all about focus. Every day we move fast, and in order to make progress and move forward we’ve learned to fail fast, learn fast and move on.

Congratulations on your recent $85 million in funding, along with your billion-dollar valuation. What does the company plan to do with its new haul of funding, and what can we expect to see from zulily in 2013?
Thank you! We’ll continue to grow while staying focused on delivering great products and services to members (10 million and growing) and expand our team so we can keep obsessing about discovering new products every day. zulily has already entered the European market, and with this funding we will continue international expansion, which provides a great opportunity for our brand.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for zulily in the coming year, and how does it plan on approaching them?
Our focus is on ensuring our customers and vendors are pleased with the quality of merchandise and the low price point. We are continually working to shorten our shipping times, and that’s why we have opened fulfillment centers in the past year.

Do you have any parting words for merchants, marketers and consumers?
It’s a large marketplace if we satisfy our customers. Find what motivates you and your business. For us, it’s keeping up with mom’s needs and ensuring we’re delivering the best possible experience for her.

By Jason Hahn