Ideeli

The Associate will oversee all media relations for the businesses, with assistance from the Fashion & Editorial team, as well as play a lead role in developing and executing cross-functional merchandising and marketing programs, including holiday promotions, special events and brand partner marketing initiatives.

We spoke to Groupon and Ideeli about what the acquisition means for both companies.

Last year saw a major influx of new fashion-focused tech startups. With the early success of pioneers like Gilt Groupe and Ideeli, an industry that has typically been slow to embrace new technology has spawned a burgeoning community of game-changing ecommerce sites, mobile apps and social networking and discovery platforms. And with no shortage of new ideas or interest from financial backers, this influx shows no signs of slowing down in 2012--and we think that's very exciting. With new start-ups popping up almost daily, we set out to discover which ones are doing it right, how they’re all being funded, and what 2012 holds for the fashion tech biz.

Inc. magazine just released their annual Inc. 500, a list of the country's 500 fastest-growing private businesses. Proving that members-only flash sales business model are still sound, online retailer Ideeli scored the number one spot on the list with a three-year sales growth of 40,882% and revenue of $77.7 million. The New York-based company launched in 2007 and specializes in limited-time sales with a variety of designers and was one of the first to adopt this type of business model in the U.S., shortly after Gilt Groupe. And we knew Ideeli was a major player in the online flash sale site game. These ecommerce sites were one of the only retail platforms to benefit from the recession--brands had excess inventory they needed to move and shoppers wanted deals. Paul Hurley, the founder of Ideeli, told Inc., "The day after Lehman failed, which was a spectacular day for us, you could fire a gun in Saks and not hit anybody." Still, we didn't know it was this big. Currently, ideeli boasts over 4.5 million members and 1,000 brand partners. Here are 10 more interesting facts about this year's fastest-growing company that you may not have known from Inc.'s profile:

Ideeli launched back in 2007, and this is the second season the flash sales site is officially sponsoring Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Along with a slew of guest contributors adding fashion-centric editorial content to the e-commerce platform, Ideeli will also host a "Design Dreams" giveaway on February 12. The package includes everything an aspiring designer needs to sew his or her first piece: sewing machine, sketch pads, sewing class, and more. But clearly it's the deals we're most excited about. In honor of the week, Ideeli is hosting eight sales featuring designers showing in the tents. (These aren't looks straight off the runway, but classics from previous collections.) Here's the schedule:

Tamara Rosenthal, executive director of brand marketing at New York-based flash sales site ideeli, has worked everywhere from Lacoste to Ferragamo in marketing to Vogue in advertising to...A Small World. That's right--the branding veteran's most recent position was figuring out a branding strategy for the niche social networking site. Now, she's doing the same at ideeli, bringing years of retail and publishing experience along for the ride. We recently sat down with Rosenthal to discuss ideeli's present, its future, and why she's happy she got into online marketing earlier than most.