Ideeli, Luxury on the Cheap for the Fast

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 18th 2007 at 9:02AM

Ideeli, a new website that offers deep discounts on luxury goods for women is creating a big stir and they haven't even officially opened yet. The company, which deals in purses, jewelry and other designer goods will operate like similar sites we have seen for gadgets and for wine in which a product is offered for a limited amount of time and once it is gone, it's gone. Ideeli will operate on a membership only basis with invitations coming either from the company or existing members. They will sell just three or four specific items each week. Shoppers who want a VIP upgrade can pay can pay $8 monthly to shop an hour ahead of the general membership. Ideeli just received $3.8 million in venture-capital financing.

Another company with a similar agenda, Gilt Groupe, also recently received $5 million in funding. So it looks like these two will be battling over the same market. The question is whether or not there is a big enough market for two sites to flourish. With the "it bag" on the wane and aspirational consumers spending less and less it will be interesting to see how these two companies do.

Tags: gilt, gilt groupe, ideeli, luxury, websites