HauteLook likes how Facebook perks up sales

When the members-only online fashion apparel retailer HauteLook ran a Facebook-only sale event last month for the DVF brand, it generated an unusually large volume of customer activity, the retailer says.

Sales transactions initiated off of the retailer’s e-commerce site, such as through Facebook or mobile phones, typically account for about 10% of total Internet sales transactions, a spokeswoman for HauteLook says. In contrast, the Facebook-only DVF (Diane von Furstenberg) sales event last month coincided with a doubling of off-site transactions to 20% of the total.

In addition, the DVF sale event generated more than 36,000 new fans for HauteLook and DVF, and new customers accounted for 40% of the DVF Facebook transactions. Of 23 sales events that HauteLook initiated on the same day last month, the DVF Facebook-only event produced the second-largest volume of gross sales, the retailer says. The DVF Facebook event’s first day produced a conversion rate that was double the conversion rate on HauteLook.com.

DVF is one of more than 1,500 brands that HauteLook offers.

HauteLook manages its Facebook sales through Alvenda, which integrates the Facebook storefront with HauteLook’s e-commerce site through an application programming interface.

HauteLook uses the same API to tie orders from its mobile apps to its e-commerce order management system, the retailer says.

HauteLook is No. 191 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.