Technology
Tech Impact Awards 2012: Consumer/Retail
By Gianni Truzzi September 12, 2012
This article originally appeared in the October 2012 issue of Seattle magazine.
Zulily
2200 First Ave. S, Seattle
Employees: 300+
zulily.com
This three-year-old online retailer of products for babies, children and moms is the age of a toddler, but it has been growing like an energetic adolescent. Beginning with two cofounders, Zulily now employs more than 300 people to market about 1,400 styles of new products from its 80,000-square-foot brick headquarters in the SoDo neighborhood. The members-only site has upended its retailing sector with its daily, limited-time deals on trendsetting apparel, furniture and toys, a reality that has attracted $53.6 million in investment. CEO Darrell Cavens has observed that parents build greater loyalty to brands and the firms daily email blast to 4 million addresses promotes the kind of repeat business that other daily deal sites find harder to establish. Zulilys smart, effective marketing helps vendors be discovered by customers and builds a company that can grow as families do.
Silver Award
Decide
200 W Mercer St., Seattle
Employees: 29
decide.com
Have you ever bought an electronics device only to learn a newer version was available? Launched by former engineers from Farecast (acquired by Microsoft), Decide uses similar models of prediction that can help consumers avoid those disappointments by advising to buy now or wait based on expectations of a new model or a drop in price. The site collects data from millions of user reviews and expert sources to make predictions across 150 product lines, thus encouraging purchases with no buyers remorse.