Seattle-based retailer Zulily’s website has been down for maintenance since Monday following the layoffs of 800 workers. When attempting to visit Zulily’s website Wednesday, the link redirects to https://www.zulily.com/password and displays a message that says, “We are down for maintenance.”
Earlier this month, news emerged about Zulily layoffs in three states — Washington, Ohio and Nevada, according to notices filed with the respective states’ employment offices. GeekWire reported that last week, Zulily’s credit card was also no longer being accepted for purchases, according to Synchrony Bank. Lastly, Zulily sued Amazon.com last week, calling itself one of “Amazon’s victims,” alleging that the e-commerce giant engaged in price fixing and “bullying” behavior so merchants would leave Zulily.
Total Retail’s Take: Zulily was most recently owned by Qurate Retail Group, the parent company of shopping networks QVC and HSN. In May, Qurate sold Zulily to private equity investment firm Regent, which operates and owns several consumer brands, including Club Monaco, DIM Paris, La Senza, Escada, and DiamondBack.
Zulily was originally a flash-sale site that had been a trailblazer in using technology to create a compelling online customer experience. It was valued at more than $7 billion in 2014, according to GeekWire, but started to see a decline in recent years. It’s unclear how long Zulily’s website will be down for maintenance, or what that means for the company’s future. GeekWire reported that at one point on Saturday, Zulily’s website had a message that said “All sales are final during Zulily’s going-out-of-business sale.” Multiple Zulily employees took to LinkedIn to announce they were affected by layoffs as a result of the company “closing its doors.”
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