Furniture and home décor retailer One Kings Lane is on track to double its sales this year, as it competes with web-only competitors in the home category like Gilt Home and brings in an increasing amount of its revenue from mobile devices, says CEO Doug Mack. “We’re on target for $200 million in sales this year,” he tells Internet Retailer. “We’ve already booked more revenue year to date than we did in 2011 entirely.”
One Kings Lane, No. 173 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, brought in $100 million in online sales in 2011, up 300% from $25 million in 2010, Mack says. Mobile revenue represents approximately 22% of sales for One Kings Lane, and within the next few years, sales from mobile devices will overtake traditional e-commerce sales, he says. Tablet sales account for 60% of all mobile revenue, while smartphones represent 40%. Around 26% of traffic comes from mobile devices.
In gearing up for a major focus on mobile in the coming years, and flush with $40 million in new capital One Kings Lane secured in September, the retailer has hired a veteran in mobile technology, Jean Sini, to be its new chief product and technology officer. Sini most recently ran engineering at personal finance management service Mint.com, which Intuit acquired in November 2009. “Mint.com was one of the first major companies that embraced mobile,” Mack says. “We think One Kings Lane will eventually be more mobile than web in terms of our sales. It’s inevitable. We have the opportunity to truly be one of the major leaders in mobile commerce and we’re going to take on the opportunity with Jean.”
Sini has pre-approval to hire as many people as he wants, Mack adds. The retailer has around 300 employees and expects that to increase to 350 by the end of the year and to the mid-400s next year. In addition to plans to beef up mobile shopping, One Kings Lane is also working on using data to personalize the site to each shopper’s taste; Mack offered no details about that effort.
In addition to Sini, One Kings Lane has hired three other key executives recently. Sascha Jamall is the new vice president of brand development. Previously Jamall was vice president of private brand and global sourcing at Michaels Arts and Crafts and has held sourcing positions at Eddie Bauer LLC (No. 98)and Pottery Barn, a unit of Williams-Sonoma Inc. (No. 24). Susan Stick, previously associate general counsel for video messaging service Skype, is the new vice president of legal. And John Anderson, formerly of Quidsi.com, the parent company of Soap.com and a unit of Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1), is the new chief human resources officer.
Founded in 2008, One Kings Lane has seen its particular part of the e-retail neighborhood become more crowded. In 2010 came the debut of Gilt Home, a home furnishings subsidiary of Gilt Groupe Inc., No. 49 in the Top 500 Guide. Last year came the launch of Fab.com, No. 449, another flash retailer of design-inspired home goods, apparel and accessories.
The new entrants don’t intimidate Mack, who says the narrow focus of One Kings Lane on home furnishings and décor is an advantage when pitted against Gilt. Mack says Gilt’s attention and resources are spread more thinly throughout a number of categories. Originally launched in 2007 as a fashion flash sale site, Gilt has since rolled out separate e-commerce sites for travel deals with Jetsetter.com, food and cookware with GiltTaste.com, local discounts with GiltCity.com and a full-priced men’s apparel site, Park & Bond. Gilt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Though Fab.com launched in mid-2011 and is already on track to bring in $100 million in sales this year according to its CEO Jason Goldberg, Mack does not see it as a direct competitor. He says Fab’s target market is interested in a more urban, hipster style than One Kings Lane’s demographic, which tends to favor more traditional merchandise, such as that sold by Crate and Barrel, No. 59 in the Top 500, or Restoration Hardware Inc., No. 105.
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