luxury

Trouble in Paradise: Jetsetter’s Founder and CEO Steps Down

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 15 at 5:28 pm PT

Drew Patterson has stepped down as founder and CEO of Jetsetter, the high-end luxury discount sales travel site owned by Gilt Groupe.

Confirmed: Schultz and Efrusy to Leave Groupon Board; “Accounting Types” Joining

Kara Swisher in Commerce on April 30 at 12:40 pm PT

Will a shake-up of the board of the daily deals company help its prospects?

Lot18 Turns Wine Into Wine Country Excursions

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on October 18, 2011 at 5:00 am PT

Lot18, which offers wines online for a discount, is expanding into travel deals that are packaged especially for lovers of the fermented grape.

Gilt City Leaves the Masses to Groupon, Skims the Cream Off the Top

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 7, 2011 at 2:07 pm PT

As Groupon and LivingSocial scramble for first-mover advantage and launch in as many as eight new markets a day, Gilt City is taking a different approach to the group-buying market.

Gilt Groupe Leans on Mixture of Equity and Debt to Fund Growth

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on December 15, 2010 at 3:55 pm PT

Gilt Groupe has secured about $15 million in a line of credit, which we’ve learned was primarily used for building out a new warehouse in Louisville, Ky.

Voices

Luxe Lowdown: Tony Sites Begin to Invite Buyer Reviews

Rachel Dodes, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 18, 2010 at 5:00 am PT

More than a decade after book and electronics retailers embraced online customer reviews, the most elite stores in the U.S. are opening their websites—and the brands they sell—to the slings and arrows of public opinion. At the end of the month, Saks.com, the online arm of Saks Fifth Avenue, will unveil a five-star review system where customers can express their opinions on products ranging from $1,700 Jimmy Choo bags to $7 Kiehl’s lip balm.

Analyst: IPad a Want, Then a Need

John Paczkowski in News on October 2, 2010 at 8:52 am PT

If netbook sales are in decline, Apple’s iPad isn’t to blame–not yet, anyway. According to a new survey from NPD, only 13 percent of iPad owners bought the device in lieu of a PC. For the other 87 percent, it was an incremental purchase, a luxury purchase.

Another Digital Spectacle Unfolds: No, Not Today's Apple Event–It's Burning Man 2010!

Kara Swisher in News on September 1, 2010 at 6:05 am PT

BoomTown has never set foot in the dusty dustfest in the desert that is Burning Man, due to the lack of a Four Seasons in the vicinity. Thank goodness, then, for the live stream of the annual event this week, direct from Black Rock City, which you can see after the jump and also on Burning Man’s Web site.

Gilt Groupe's Susan Lyne Talks About Fashion, Local and (Not) IPO!

Kara Swisher in News on August 26, 2010 at 2:03 pm PT

Yesterday, BoomTown dropped into the lower Park Avenue offices of the New York-based Gilt Groupe, the online fashion retail site, to talk to its CEO, Susan Lyne. Since 2007, the site has raised $83 million, giving it a $400 million valuation and spurring interest from investment bankers who think Gilt might be a good candidate for an initial public offering. That’s doubtful for now, given how important it is for Gilt to expand its business, even as competition increases.

Voices

Private-Sale Sites Grow in a Struggling Economy

Marisa Taylor, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 29, 2009 at 7:54 am PT

The success of private-sale sites like Gilt Groupe, which holds daily members-only sales of off-season luxury items, have led to imitators hoping to emulate the success of a business model that’s catching on with recession-strapped consumers. Private-sale sites let shoppers experience the cachet of owning luxury items without paying full price.