The Rise of Fab.com and Why They Succeeded

Fab.com is a marriage of Social Networking and E-commerce

Founded by entrepreneurs Jason Goldberg and Bradford Shellhammer, social e-commerce company Fab.com is the newest prodigy of the social networking and online consumer and design industries. Originally launched as a gay networking site called Fabulis.com, the founders boldly decided to close down the former Fabulis website and re-launch it as a brand new social commerce website, Fab.com, selling modern, innovative or quirky design products, clothes and jewellery at up to 70% discount.

Fab.com has managed to effectively engage customers and generate repeat purchases among customers. They are able to expand their customer base rapidly because of their focus on design & product innovation.

Part of Fab.com’s amazing race to success is due to the fact that the site was launched at exactly the right time. Its main competitor in the the discounted e-products sector, Groupon, was rapidly losing almost 50% of its traffic, in the wake of bad publicity and reports of unsatisfactory customer service. On top of that, Fab managed to offer their designers and suppliers something that Groupon could not: a close-to-wholesale purchasing price that left enough margin for both the Fab owners and the suppliers themselves.

Unlike Groupon, also, Fab does not charge their merchants high commission fees. Needless to say, word got around fast and Fab now rely on a steady flow of buyer researched designs, inbound supplier requests (many of whom do not have an online store of their own) and business investors, including actor Ashton Kutcher.

In terms of their ever-increasing clientele, Fab’s business model lends itself perfectly to customer retention and attraction, most notably through social networking. Fab regularly launches schemes whereby customers are enticed to invite their friends to join in return for further discounts, free shipping or other perks. In addition, Goldberg and Shellhammer continuously manage to keep their website fresh and exciting through, for example, last year’s launch of the first ever online pop-up shop, an “inspiration wall” where customers can post their own design ideas and a live feed where they can share their purchases, likes and tweets.

Fab also has the nicest and cleanest email marketing template comparing to its competitors. When you receive their daily sale emails, the pictures of the products are beautiful to look at and the nature of well-designed products make customers want to click on the email and see what these products are really about.

In general, Fab relies heavily on social networking to boost their success and increases its reputation by attracting rich and famous clientele, such as record producers and design tycoons.

The future looks bright for Fab as it continues to focus on design, product innovation and customer retention. For now, I can say that I love getting their daily emails – they are so beautiful and fun to look at!