Awhile back, we took a quick look at Gilt and how it has been dealing with its extended rough patch as of late. It seemed that the initial excitement behind its business model and those of its peers, which was built upon a foundation of flash sales on relatively luxurious brands, had officially died off. I mean, for a while there, things were pretty good. Solid brands matched with solid deals. How could we go wrong? But somewhere along the line it all went to shit. And not just for Gilt as a new report details. Flash sale sites are fucking dead.
Looking at a variety of flash sale-oriented sites, the outlook is decidedly terminal. Flash sale sites don't have the purchasing power to keep up any sort of substantial growth. From 2005 to 2010, the sector grew at a rate of about 76% per year. The five years since then, just 16%. Most flash sale sites have gone belly up and the ones who are still around, like Gilt, have plummeted since their heyday. I actually had a short conversation with a colleague about why sites like Gilt suck now that basically amounted to the fact that the product selection is worse than below average. Yeah, shit is just straight up awful. And in the likelihood that something good does pop up, there's so little of it that it sells out before you even have a chance to buy it, assuming you're still looking at those sites to begin with. Don't believe me? Seriously, just take a look at this graph. If that doesn't prove the point, I'm not sure what will. Hopefully, this doesn't spark a surge in renewed interest for those monthly subscription services because those are trash too.
