The title of for my short post is what I would typically see in an email notification for an ongoing online flash sale. Online flash sales have been the reason for many hours spent in guilty pleasure, the justification for waking up at 8.50am to wash-up so that I would be readily seated in front of the computer at 9am when the sales start.
These limited period (usually 2-3 days), "invitation only" online flash sales by companies such as Gilt Groupe.com, Rue Lala.com, Beyond the Rack.com and now the newly launched Prive.com, amongst many others, have been around since 2007 but I've only begun actually shopping with them last year. What happens is that new sales start at 9am Pacific Time daily on these websites, featuring premium labels at up to 70% off retail prices. To shop on these sites, one must register and become a member -- a "select" process that is supposedly by invitation only. (Which is nonsense because I've invited myself to all of them and they certainly were not discerning in their doling out memberships.) Emails are sent out to members shortly before the sales open and then, at 9am Pac time, its a mad free for all since stocks go on a first come first serve basis. Once shopping, you are only allowed to hold an item in your cart for 10 mins before it goes back on the main page for others to purchase. The impetus therefore, as is stated on the Gilt Groupe website, is "if you see something you like, its best to act fast".
It is interesting to look at the dynamics of this shopping process, particularly the rhetoric used to get women to shop. An odd mix of contradictions, one would see in the emails or on the home page exhortations to "get it first", "not get left behind", or "be the first to shop the style" and other such general alarmist statements warning the shopper that a coveted pair of jeans would be gone if she didnt act decisively and purchase it in the next ten minutes. The imagined competition between these women is clearly used as a sales tactic to get shoppers to make a fast commitment, conjuring up images of virtual women worldwide clicking furiously away to snag the deal from you.
On the other hand, the rhetoric of female comradie and bonding is also used as a marketing strategy by such companies to get their current members to recommend the site to their girlfriends by passing along an invite. Rue La La for instance, is encouraging me to not be selfish and "share the La La". I'm sure I could find a place for such generosity, particularly when I get a $10 credit when someone I invited makes a purchase! The perceived insincerity and competition imagined in female relationships embodied by these strategies are rather significant.
I was wondering if anyone else here shopped flash sales. They are exteremely addictive and I have tried many a time to exorcise them from what is becoming a daily ritual. On that note, does anyone want an invite?
Good application of class materials to real life quandries, Nadine. These online sample sales have totally come to dominate my relationship to fashion. I keep trying to wean myself but always seem to have credit left to spend....
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