Strong holiday sales boosting Bluefly’s multi-channel test

Strong holiday activity sparked by word-of-mouth and e-mail promotions are pushing up sales at fashion apparel discounter Bluefly.com and at its first brick-and-mortar store, CEO Ken Seiff tells InternetRetailer.com. "By this point last year, our holiday season was beginning to wane," he says. "But this year it continues to be strong. Traffic is up, average order size is up and margins are strong as we’ve been less promotional than ever before."

Seiff says that word-of-mouth continues to drive much of Bluefly’s increased customer activity, though he also attributes successful product give-aways that have brought in more than 100,000 new e-mail addresses for marketing purposes. "No question that has helped drive up customer acquisitions this holiday shopping season," he says.

Meantime, the holiday rush is bringing as many as 1,000 shoppers or more a day to New York-based Bluefly’s first brick-and-mortar store, the 4,200-square-foot Outlet Store of Bluefly.com at 43 West 24th Street in Manhattan, Seiff says.

He adds that the store, which opened last month, is still in a test mode to determine if Bluefly will keep it as a permanent outlet, but so far so good. "We’re pleased with what we’ve seen so far in December," he says. He adds that some merchandise appears to sell better in the store than online, such as some less-known designer brands that customers want to touch and try on before purchasing.

But the real test will come next month, he adds, as consumers get back to more normal post-holiday shopping levels. "If we’re successful in both December and January, that would be a strong motivator to keeping the store open on a permanent basis," he says.