Jet.com

Jet.com
Type Private
Founded 2014
Founder(s) Marc Lore
Nate Faust
Mike Hanrahan (computer scientist)
CEO Marc Lore
Industry E-commerce
Employees 501-1000 (January, 2015)[1]
Website jet.com
Current status Active

Jet.com is a privately held American e-commerce company headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey, launched in July 2015. The company was cofounded by entrepreneur Marc Lore (who previously sold his company, Diapers.com, to ecommerce site Amazon.com) along with Mike Hanrahan and Nate Faust, and has raised $820 million over four venture rounds from firms including Google Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital Ventures, Accel Partners, Alibaba Group, and Fidelity.[2] The site was publicly launched on July 21, 2015, with a beta testing program available months before.[3][4]

The main distinguishing feature of the site involves the real-time pricing algorithm.

History

After Lore sold Diapers.com to Amazon in November 2010, he did not initially plan on starting a new venture and "retired" in Northern California. While in Northern California, Lore realized users may be willing to pay less and accept longer wait times on obtaining online goods. The flaw he saw in other competitors is catering only to wealthier customers "who care more about convenience than value."[5] Lore set out to create a site that takes the membership model of Costco and Sam's Club and bring it to the e-commerce world. He began to peddle the idea, and after lunch with a partner at Accel Ventures, Lore was promised $1 million in seed capital to start the site. In addition to launching a site with such characteristics, Lore wanted to create a company with a culture unlike the secretive, competitive culture seen at competitors such as Amazon and Walmart.

The site launched with an initiative known as Jet Insider, a means to spread word about the company prelaunch. Once users sign up, they are given six months of the service for free and a link to refer friends and family to sign up. Referrers were given prizes such as lifetime memberships or five year memberships while the top referrers were given stock options. By January 2015, over 250,000 users had signed up for the service. Beta testers reported mixed reviews on the site's benefits.[3]

As of July 2015, the site had 4.5 million products available for sale.[6] After a beta launch, the site was officially launched on July 21, 2015.[3]

In November 2015, Jet.com raised $500 million in venture capital led by Fidelity.[7]

Competitors

Questions on various tech sites were raised concerning Jet’s ability to deliver a service that can adequately distinguish itself from competition and gain market share in the eCommerce space. Amazon, the world's largest retailer and Lore’s previous employer, largely controls the eCommerce space. Amazon Prime membership, which allows users to get free two day shipping among other novelties, comes standard in a Jet membership which is around half the price. A comparison done by Wired with Amazon Mom did not suggest great savings were attained by shopping through Jet.[8]

Given Jet’s similarity to previous failed Dot-com bubble startups, questions are raised whether or not the site is able to scale as needed to attain significant market share and grow into a sustainable business.[9]

Features

One of the major distinguishing features of Jet is the "realtime pricing algorithm" which, according to cofounder Marc Lore, aims to gauge "the true marginal cost of getting that product to [customers]".[10] Items are priced based on location in distribution centers. If, for example, a user would like to purchase two items located in the same distribution center, the price would be low. If, however, the user, adds a third item located in a different distribution facility, the price increases.[10] The site makes no profit from any of the items it sells; rather, profit is made through the membership fee.[10] If a user waives his/her right to return an item, the item also decreases in price. Paying in a less expensive form of payment, for example, debit over credit, allows the price to be decreased as well. The Jet membership also allows users to shop at partnering stores such as TigerDirect.com and Sony Store to shop for items.[11]

Though often compared to brick and mortar membership stores such as Sam’s Club and Costco, Jet does not require the consumer to buy large quantities of the item to realize savings.

Jet Anywhere is a program that allows Jet users to spend money at other venues and earn "JetCash" which can be spent on the actual Jet site. Sites including Petco, Nike, and Anthropologie are currently participating in the program.[12]

Jet ran into some backlash after placing links to partnering sites without their permission in August 2015.[13] Brands such as Macy's, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot detached themselves from Jet because of the incident. Jet removed all the links to brands that requested removal. Jet's chief customer officer stated the brands that wished to be removed saw Jet as a competitor.[13]

Business model

Low prices are generated by the pricing algorithm which adjusts the price of the contents in the cart based on distribution centers the items come from.

A test done by The Wall Street Journal suggested Jet had a total loss of $242.91 on 12 items purchased by the newspaper.[6]

The Jet Partner program allows companies to sell their products on Jet's site by registering for an account and integrating the necessary application programming interface (API) components into their systems.[14] ChannelAdvisor and CommerceHub are official integration partners and help merchants who are not able to integrate directly via API, while for integration with Magento (Community Edition), there is a free module available at Magento Connect.[15][16] Approved merchants looking for a cost effective integration to Jet.com are also referred to Zentail.[17]


Complaints: JET has an overwhelming amount of complaints on various rating sites.

References

  1. ↑ "Jet.com: Overview". Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Quidsi Cofounder Raises an Additional 20m for a new E-commerce Biz". Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Soper, Spencer. "Jet.com Opens Rivalry With Amazon After a Ragged Trial Period". Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Jet.com Raises $500 Million from Fidelity". Fortune. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  5. ↑ Stone, Brad. "Amazon Bought this Man's Company Now he's Coming for them". Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Winkler, Rolfe. "Behind the Numbers of Jet.com's Audacious Plan to Attack Amazon". Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Jet.com Raises $500 Million from Fidelity". Fortune. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
  8. ↑ Barrett, Brian. "If Jet Wants to Beat Amazon, It Needs More Than Low Prices". Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  9. ↑ Risen, Tom. "Here Are Jet.com's Top 5 E-Commerce Rivals". Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 Harpaz, Joe. "Will Jet.com's Smart Cart Disrupt Ecommerce?". Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  11. ↑ Mac, Ryan. "Amazon Challenger Jet.com Raises $140 Million Ahead of Launch". Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Jet Anywhere". Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  13. 1 2 Winkler, Rolfe. "Jet.com Runs Into Turbulence With Retailers". Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Jet Partner Portal". Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  15. ↑ "What are the technical requirements to integrate with Jet.com?". Retail Partner FAQ. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  16. ↑ "MkMage JET Integrate". Magento Connect. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  17. ↑ "Zentail | Multi-channel Selling on Jet.com". www.zentailcommerce.com. Retrieved 2015-11-11.

See also

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