Like Gilt.com, Vente-Privee offers deep discounts on designer merchandise, namely apparel and accessories for women. Sales begin at 10 a.m. each day and last 72 hours. For now, the site will run sales on only one to two brands per day, gradually scaling that number heading into the holidays.
Gilt, by contrast, runs sales on as many as 10 or 12 different brands in its women's category each day. Sales begin at noon and last 36 to 48 hours on average.
Vente-Privee's U.S. division is a joint venture between American Express and the French company. According to WWD, both companies have each invested approximately $35 million in cash and another $5 million in "human capital and technology transfers." The U.S. division expects to generate $500 million in annual sales within the next three to four years, having brought in $1.28 billion in revenue in Europe last year.
Gilt, which has scaled rapidly -- expanding into a number of different verticals and hiring upwards of 700 employees since its launch in 2007 -- has yet to turn a profit.
Still, the U.S. market should prove something of a challenge for Vente-Privee. Although Vente-Privee has 14 million registered users in Europe -- more than three times the number of signups Gilt has amassed in the U.S. -- the name has little recognition stateside. The same goes for many of the smaller European brands that will goon sale on the U.S. site.