TheSampleSale.com Reaches Out to the Savvy Shopper
In the past year, as the economy soured, the proliferation of online sample sales soared. Online sample sales have drawn bargain hunters while helping brands that were left holding copious amounts of stock.
Rather than compete for online attention, two veteran sample-sale operators have partnered up to run an online site that they hope will stand out among the growing market of online flash-sale sites.
The once competitors, Jordan Rosen and Jimmy Tung, pulled together their knowledge and resources from years of running offline sample-sale events to launch TheSampleSale.com (www.thesamplesale.com).
TheSampleSale.com site soft-launched on Jan. 18 and is hosting sales featuring such brands as William Rast, Ed Hardy, Diesel Men, English Laundry, Frankie B and Taverniti So denim.
From 2003 to 2006, Rosen ran Underground Denim—a traveling sample sale that mainly toured college campuses. Rosen then operated Denim Revolution for two years and hosted warehouse sales for manufacturers—such as James Jeans, Primp, T-Bags and Citizens of Humanity—at their company’s headquarters.
Tung has been operating The Warehouse Sale premium denim and clothing sample-sale events since 2004.
While the high-end fashion market has been aggressively sought after by sites such as HauteLook, Rue La La and Gilt Groupe, TheSampleSale.com hopes to attract the more laid-back, casual shopper.
“With TheSampleSale.com, we’re sticking with what we know: premium denim, hoodies and sneakers,” said Rosen, who is TheSampleSale.com’s president. “Really high-end European brands—that’s not our market or our customers.”
Rosen hopes to stand out among the Rue La Las and Gilt Groupes of the Web by relying on its loyal customer base. “We’re not trying to enter their space,” Rosen said. “Our customers are a little younger, savvier and more price-conscious.”
Transitioning from offline to online has been a pretty seamless process, according to Rosen, with Tung having experience running online businesses.
“We’re a little different,” Rosen said. “We know what a sample sale truly is. We’ve done right by a lot of brands that we’ve been doing business with for years. We’ve proven we can host sales and get customers to attend, and they love the brands we bring in.”
Rosen hopes the already 600,000-plus customers that have shopped their sample sales are sure to follow.
They are further rewarding shoppers with a promotion and giving users $10 to spend just for joining.—Connie Cho
