In this climate of fiscal responsibility, it makes sense that luxury publications may have fallen by the wayside. While subscription sales for Conde Nast’s Traveller may have been lucrative in the past, it’s rare to find them outside doctors offices and treadmills. In an effort to kickstart dwindling subscription sales, Conde Nast Traveller is partnering with web shopping experience Gilt Groupe on the site’s Jetsetter service.
Best known for it’s Woot-like approach to high-end fashion, Gilt has maintained steady revenue throughout the economic downturn. The site is invite-only and consumers keep a constant watch on Fendi, Marc Jacobs and Proenza Schouler deals at up to 70% off the regular retail price. As of this morning Gilt launched its latest spin off site, Gilt Man. The catch with Gilt, Gilt Fuse and Gilt Man is that consumers only have one day to buy items. Jetsetter travel hunters have a slightly longer sale time, but certainly no more than a week. Naturally, with this sense of urgency, users stay constantly connected to the sales via sms, email, a desktop application and the recently launched iPhone app. While many businesses complain that consumers have tightened their purse strings, Gilt is proof that while they’ve become more thrifty, they haven’t stopped purchasing all together. Rumor has it that it’s not uncommon for Gilt to earn $1 million dollars in a single sales day.
With Jetsetter, Gilt users get limited-time deals on travel, in addition to editorial “curation” from Travellers’ well-respected staff. Meanwhile, by leveraging Gilt’s huge membership base and constant sales updates, Conde Nast will convert some of those uber connected bargain hunters into subscribers.
