The rise and fall of Zulily
Layoffs, a lawsuit against Amazon and as of this week, liquidation. The downfall of e-commerce giant Zulily has been drawing both local and national interest.
FOX 13 News spoke with former employees and industry insiders to better understand the local company’s demise.
Sergey Podlazav says he was employed at Zulily for five years. It’s a half-decade he reflects on positively.
“The target customer was basically moms and kids,” said Podlazov. “There was always something new on the site. It was always exciting.”
“Zulily really pioneered this approach at online retailing of baby products through this flash-deal model,” said Fuller. “I have followed their trajectory and we’re really building upon what Zulily started in the new mom segment.”
“The iPhone had just come out two years before. So most of us weren’t shopping online, let alone on our phones,” said Fuller. “They were actually quite revolutionary with the tech that they were using.”
“The company itself has gone through quite a bit of transition. They changed ownership several times. They’ve changed their focus a couple of times,” said Fuller. “It’s not on the radar of the millennial mom in the same way that it was 10 years ago, I can tell you that.”
READ MORE: Seattle-based online retailer Zulily says it will go into liquidation, surprising customers
This past summer, the Belltown headquarters were vacated. In December, roughly 800 employees were laid off. In the midst of the chaos, Zulily announced it was suing Amazon over allegations of price fixing.
