Built to Enjoy in Utah: Jana Francis, Founder, Steals.com (Part 3)

Sramana: What is the business model?

Jana: The business model itself is extremely demanding. The name of the company is Steals.com, and we have four niche daily deal websites that cater to women. The first one I started is BabySTEALS.com. We launch one new steal every 12 hours at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Pacific time. It is typically a high-quality product, most often a boutique or higher brand name product, at 40% to 80% off the MSRP [manufacturer’s suggested retail price]. We run the product at that price until it sells out, or until 11 hours have passed.

BabySTEALS.com was the first site launched, but I now have scrapbookSTEALS.com, kidSTEALS.com, and sheSTEALS.com as well. We have launched a new STEALS site every year.

Sramana: Do you have a number of different items, or do you focus on just one item?

Jana: We will typically stock multiple numbers of each item. When you come to one of our websites, you will see one brand item, such as baby swings. You will then see many different patterns and sizes available for selection. We may have a thousand total baby swings, but there will be a different combination of patterns and prints. Consumers never know how many we have, and you never know when you are going to sell out. We don’t know either because it depends on which items are popular.

We do buy the inventory in advance, which is unusual in the deal space. We were the first site for women, long before Groupon. We partner with manufacturers directly on the promotion of their products. It is really advertising for the manufacturer. We are giving them a stage, by themselves, in front of thousands of targeted customers. There are no competing products. There are no ads. It is just their stories, their products, and their brands.

We partner with the manufacturers in advance and select a date for the promotion. We buy the inventory that we select, and they ship us the goods. Our receiving department verifies the quantity, quality, color, and everything else. It goes through our photography department so that we can take images if necessary, which is almost always the case. We then send it through our copyright department. Since we have it in stock, we are able to ship within 24 hours of the purchase. The new deal sites that come up are really just middlemen; they place orders after the sale is over. That can take 14 days to 8 weeks to ship depending on fulfillment.

Believe it or not, less than half of the time what we have ordered actually comes in correctly. We are able to make adjustments before we tell consumers something that gives them a bad experience. That is one of the reasons why I named the company STEALS.com. Our tagline is that it is not just a deal, it’s a steal. For us it’s more than just price. It is about the overall experience and knowing you are getting a high-quality product at a great price. I would pit our customer service department up against any e-commerce site, and I would bet that we would exceed expectations every time.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Built to Enjoy in Utah: Jana Francis, Founder, Steals.com
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