The concept has changed a bit, hasn’t it? I remember in the beginning it was all about giveaways, and there really weren’t daily sales.
Yes, that’s true. In the beginning, it was more of a marketing platform, a series of giveaways. We still do giveaways, but we chose to make it into more of an e-commerce business. The giveaways are a marketing tool now, and they’re part of the DNA of the site.

So, who would you say is your ideal customer? Is there an ideal customer?
I think we have two customers that we can clearly identify. One is young, 18-30, super into fashion, trend driven, of the moment, doing everything she can to buy the clothes she wants. She likes to dress up for work and for going out. And she probably couldn’t afford the brands we carry if it weren’t for the discount.

Then there is Mrs. Ideeli, 35 plus. She’s married, can afford to pay full retail, familiar with most of the brands that we’re selling, but loves a good bargain.

So you’ve got over 2.6 million customers. What’s next for ideeli? We have a lot of things coming up–most notably, we’re expanding into new categories. Right now, we’re in fashion, home, beauty, kids. Next up is travel and menswear. It makes so much sense–women buy about 50% of men’s apparel sold. And men’s apparel is so much more about buy now wear now, which is the point of our site too. We’re not going to sell a cashmere sweater and a pair of boots in July.

Postscript: Today, ideeli also announced that it would enter the social commerce game, ala Groupon. Unlike the others, ideeli’s sales will be on a national, not local basis.