Saks Fifth Avenue Parent Company Buying Flash-Sales Company Gilt Groupe For $250 Million

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The owner of Saks Fifth Avenue is branching out into the world of here-and-then-gone Internet discounts, snapping up flash sale site Gilt Groupe for $250 million in cash. Because luxury brands obviously have that much money just sitting in their gilded piggy banks.

Hudson’s Bay Company — which also owns Lord & Taylor — announced Thursday that it’s acquiring Gilt Groupe, in the hopes that it helps get more shoppers in the doors of its Saks Off 5th locations, reports USA Today.

Customers who shop on Gilt will be able to return those items at the department store, while Saks Off 5th locations will also feature new open Gilt concept shops in the store.

Gilt has more than nine million members after eight years in business, and they’re not just any members — many of them belong to that magic customer demographic with disposable income to spend, the millennial.

“We always want to make sure we’re appealing to the incoming generation, and particularly the kind of customer that Gilt has,” CEO Jerry Storch told USA Today. “The affluent Millennial audience is the most sought-after audience in retail today.”

Saks Fifth Avenue owner to acquire Gilt Groupe for $250 million [USA Today]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist