That number sounds extraordinary, but it’s not a stretch. Kevin P. Ryan, chief executive of Gilt, says 25 percent of the company’s overall revenue comes from mobile, and he’s optimistic that the number will spike on the holiday, when people have even more free time to peruse the store.
Why exactly is Gilt so successful in mobile? You wouldn’t guess that people would be thrilled about shopping on small smartphone screens. But it’s the company’s business model that pulls people in even when they’re on the go.
Most of its items are only available through flash sales, where you have a small time window to buy something at a discounted price. Often, the items sell out on Gilt within minutes, so it’s a race, and naturally you’ll have an edge if you can buy something anytime from anywhere on a smartphone.
But it’s not like everybody has to do flash sales to monetize on mobile. Gilt adds an extra twist to its mobile apps to set them apart from the Web site, says Yon Feldman, vice president of mobile for Gilt.
For instance, Gilt has a wait list that people can get on if they weren’t able to buy an item; if it goes back in stock, they’ll be alerted via e-mail. The next version of the Gilt app for iPhone, which comes out in about six weeks, will use push notifications and text messages to send those alerts, Mr. Feldman said.
The new version of the Gilt app will also include the option to try on apparel, he said. An iPhone user could take a picture of himself and upload it through the app. The software will digitally edit the photo so it appears as though the item is on his body. This could be useful to see if, for example, a pair of glasses is suitable for your face.
“Instead of replicating a feature from the Web site, we try to really think about the platform and see how can we use the fact that it’s that platform to make it even better,” he said.
The third fundamental part of Gilt’s mobile strategy is deciding where to prioritize its mobile development. Most of Gilt’s mobile revenue is coming from the iPhone, so the start-up prioritizes resources toward its iPhone-specific app to make it zippy and attractive. Very few Android customers buy items through Gilt, so the company’s app for Android devices is more pared down and Web-based, not specifically tailored to each different Android phone.
That’s in contrast to Facebook, whose mobile apps are essentially all Web code wrapped inside a platform’s native programming language. That’s why the Facebook mobile apps tend to be so slow.
“Their current apps are terrible,” Mr. Feldman said. “They’re trying to be efficient and say, maybe we can build it once and release everywhere. But if you’re not super careful, it creates a lowest common denominator experience. I find it pretty ridiculous that a company that has 900 million users, and more money than they’ll ever need, doesn’t want to address a big portion of the market and create the best experience possible for them.”