Former Amazon executive, Quidsi founder and current Jet CEO Marc Lore is no stranger to making waves in a what many consider a consolidated market. Jet, the ambitious e-commerce startup he created to compete against his former employer, appears to be taking off with close to 352,000 signups for its Insider program in the company's first 73 days. Lore's Jet wants to bring the membership-based shopping club model online.
Jet opened for business on a “friends-and-family” basis in January and started a limited sign-up period on February 20th. The Insider program is now closed but Jet plans to reopen enrollment to the pubic in late spring, a representative told Mashable.
The Insider program worked by offering a reward system to some of Jet’s first insider customs who were able to pull a number of shipping referrals. The top 100 Insiders averaged more than 700 referrals each, the top 100 received free lifetime memberships with Jet. In a seemingly Girl Scout-like competition, Jet also rewarded its top 10 insiders with a lucrative 10,000 shares of stock in the company option.
Before completing a single sale, Lore has already collected $80 million for his startup from venture capital firms NEA, Bain Capital Ventures, Western Technology Investment, and Accel Partners — the firm that backed Facebook (FB) — and is following with plans to raise hundreds of millions more.
Lore plans to beat Amazon by offering prices that are 10 to 15 percent lower via a user generated referral system that matches with nearby merchants to save on shipping costs. In addition, Jet shoppers can save another 1.5 percent by using their debit cards instead of credit cards. Similar to how Amazon Prime or Costco operates, however, Jet customers must pay a $49.99 annual membership fee.
