There’s a reason Rue La La has chosen to shun social sign-ins such as Facebook Connect and remain an invite-only flash sales portal. And that’s the beauty of the invitation to join Rue La La, said chairman/CEO Ben Fischman during a keynote session at the Shop.org Annual Summit on Sept. 14.
Rue La La’s analytics show its customers invite their friends to become Rue La La members because they enjoy shopping the site, Fischman said. Even though the referring customers receive a $10 coupon incentive if their friend accepts their invitation to join, low redemption rates of these coupons indicate the reasons for brining in new members aren’t about incentives.
By letting anyone check out what Rue La La has to offer by having them sign in via Facebook, Twitter or any other social network, Rue La La would no longer be an exclusive members-only site.
Another reason to not open Rue La La up to social media users is that the membership strategy helps speed up the checkout and reduces shopping cart abandonment. Fischman said Rue La La’s cart abandonment rate is less than 12%.
By asking its members for their information before they can shop, then having them log in before they scout out daily deals, Rue La La can shorten the checkout process, he said.
“This is something more merchants need to think about,” Fischman said. “They need to give their customers a reason to log in before they get to the checkout.”