Fab approaches 8 million users, banks on mobile apps
The designed-focus retail site touts newly-designed apps that it says will help increase its mobile stats higher.
Fab, the quickly growing e-commerce startup that uses flash sales to sell products, is already making money off mobile, but it says it's about to make much more.
Expected to reach 8 million users in just a few days, Fab has released new mobile apps that CEO Jason Goldberg said will help make Fab even more mobile.
Fab's mobile apps contribute to 33 percent of the company's daily traffic and sales, but Goldberg said he expects that number to hit 50 percent during the holiday season and even higher by early next year.
"The secret of getting there is to keep building great apps. I think the users are going to get (to the apps) on their own," Goldberg said.
Fab promises a slicker experience with the new mobile apps, which are available for theiPhone, iPad and Android devices. Goldberg said that the apps make it easier for users to use more of Fab's core functions, such as randomly discovering new products and using social media to share items, while also improving navigation.
Jumping from 33 percent to 50 percent and beyond, is no small feat, but Fab has shown that it knows how to grow quickly. Fab went live in June 2011, after transforming from a gay dating site to an e-commerce site. Since then, the site says it's increased users swiftly, adding 1 million members a month since July, and now has a staff of 600 employees worldwide.
The site is on track to do $150 million in sales this year, with 30 percent coming from Europe.
Goldberg said mobile is key to the success of Fab -- and really any business, in the next five years -- but that doesn't mean the company will leave its desktop users behind. He said Fab's weekend and after-work spikes in traffic mainly come from mobile, but the Fab shoppers who make the most visits and purchases use both desktop and mobile devices. This means Fab will need to have a good user experience on both.
"We want to be platform agnostic, device agnostic," Goldberg said. "We want to be where the user is."
Check out the new iPad app in action in the video below: