Flash-Sale Fatigue

A couple of years back, web sites selling high-end merchandise at deeply discounted prices for short periods of time, like Gilt and Rue La La, were the hot retailing trend. Everyone wanted a piece of the action. Amazon started MyHabit, Nordstrom bought HauteLook, and now even Bluefly is jumping in with Belle + Clive (which is kind of interesting because you could argue that all the other sites are a modified version of what Bluefly had already been doing for over a decade).

But as these sites have proliferated, they are all competing for more or less the same merchandise, meaning the selection gets poorer, and in order to continue having fresh product to offer, some sites have resorted to the outlet-mall tactic of having merchandise made specifically for them. Overall, the chance of finding a prestige-brand item at a steep discount is much lower than it used to be, along with the perceived thrill of shopping at these sites.

My own tastes don't run to designer apparel and shoes anyway, and I've found that, especially in the last year, there is very little in the daily emails in which I'm interested. I've stopped opening most of the emails, or I'll do so only to scan the full list of what a site is offering on a given day. Rarely do I click through to browse anything. Some sites' emails, like those from Beyond The Rack, just get deleted each day, which makes me think I should probably just disconnect from that site altogether.

It's disappointing. I had hoped that sites such as these would take over the role once played by discount stores like the now-departed Filene's Basement. But it doesn't seem to be turning out that way. However, New York's famed Century 21 has started its own version of flash sales, and some of their offerings have been at least marginally interesting. And now and then I see postings on men's style blogs of people finding merchandise from Brunello Cucinelli and Ralph Lauren Purple Label in their local Marshalls, so maybe there's hope after all.