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Gilt.com kicks off Mobile Week to build on holiday sales momentum

Looking to further momentum behind its growing mobile commerce business, online flash sales site Gilt.com kicked off a new promotion last night called Mobile Week that includes a host of mobile-exclusive sales with top brands.

Gilt.com continues to see mobile sales grow, with Black Friday 2013 its biggest mobile revenue day ever, followed by Cyber Monday 2013 as the second biggest. To help build off this growth, Gilt.com mobile users will find one sale every day between Dec. 25 and 29 for each of its core categories: Women, men, home and baby & kids.

“Our members love our mobile exclusive sales, and during Mobile Week, we’ll be offering even more sales and featuring some of Gilt’s top brands just for our mobile users, such as 7 for all mankind and vintage designer handbags for women, Jack Spade and Theory for men, Cuisinart and Matteo for home and Egg and Maclaren for Kids,” said Jason John, vice president of online, mobile and social marketing at Gilt.com.

“This will not only create excitement on our Gilt app, but also help to drive awareness for current Gilt members who are not on mobile,” he said.

Reaching new users
With many consumers receiving new mobile devices as holiday presents, Gilt.com will use the promotion to encourage these new users to download its app while also driving interest from existing users.

Following the first sale at 9pm ET on Christmas Day, new Gilt.com mobile-exclusive sales will launch at noon ET on Dec. 26 through Dec. 29.

Some of the brands that will be featured include 7 for all mankind, Jack Spade, Vince and Theory, Cuisinart, Matteo and Parvez Taj, Egg, Alex Toys as well as Maclaren.

Mobile is a key focus at Gilt, with more than 40 percent of its overall revenue coming from smartphones and tablets and the Gilt app having been downloaded more than 7 million times.

During the Black Friday/Cyber Monday holiday shopping weekend, mobile sales were even stronger. From Thursday, Nov. 28 through Saturday, Nov. 30, more than 50 percent of revenue came from mobile.

Mobile sales climb
Given the strong performance from mobile, Gilt.com has been focused on delivering a strong mobile experience.

For example, this summer the retailer introduced the “Your Personal Sale” personalization algorithm to tailor its inventory of daily sales for a more customized shopping experience on mobile (see story).

“Mobile is a key focus of our business, and we’re continuing to see it grow – currently, more than 40 percent of our overall revenue comes from mobile, and that was even higher during this year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday holiday shopping weekend,” Mr. John said.

“We wanted to create a mobile-focused holiday of our own and offer mobile exclusive sales featuring some of our top brands across our women’s, men’s, kids and home categories during a period when traditionally, most other retailers are clearing out their inventory for the season instead,” he said.

“Additionally, many people receive new mobile devices for Christmas, so this is also a way for us to activate and engage with those users.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York