A sample sale site turned bloodbath

An online sample sale site has women practically debilitated. Here are some of their stories (via TheDailyBeast.com)

“I am definitely a Gilt Groupe junkie,” says a New York City-based writer, who says she has spent over $10,000—almost a quarter of her annual income—on the site over the last 12 months. “You just get really caught up in it. It’s almost like drunk shopping. I damaged the mouse on my computer from over-clicking on an item, to get it into my cart.”

“You only have five minutes to get what you want and then you’re fucked,” says Hilary Rowland, CEO of talent agency New Faces, who says she drops everything for one of Gilt’s Dolce and Gabbana sales. “If you look at the clock and it’s 12:10, you’re like, forget it, there’s no point in even looking.”

Gilt Groupe, a members-only discount-designer-clothing Web site that features heavily discounted items from designers like Oscar de la Renta and Vera Wang, launches a new sale each day at 12 p.m. And that’s when the battle begins. Quoting from TheDailyBeast.com article, “What follows next can often be compared to a bloodbath as members try to outscramble each other in filling their carts with shoes, dresses, bags, and other treasure.”

That’s pretty intense.

This article appears in Apr 28 – May 5, 2009.