Charlotte is just back from shopping. She found a great deal : a tee shirt from a trendy brand at half the retail price.

And yet, the 20-year-old student hasn’t even left her bedroom. The deal isn’t for everybody. It was part of a Internet private sale. Charlotte is a faithful customer of http://www.vente-privee.com/vp4/login/portal.ashx)">venteprivee.com, where she finds “labels like Teddy Smith, Lulu Castagnette or Diesel that [she] wouldn’t be able to afford in the stores.”

Like Charlotte, many people have converted to this new way of shopping on the web. Venteprivee.com now has millions of members but the other sites aren’t far behind. Annasand for instance boasts two million monthly visits and 300 000 members.

Today those sites abound, for all tastes.

Fashionistas may fall for a Chloe handbag at an unbeatable price on annasand.com , or bazarchic. Wine lovers can buy a case of Château Margaux or de Meursault at half the normal price « http://www.ventealapropriete.com/ventesprivees/inscription.asp)">vente à la propriété.com » . The success of those sites is such that they market increasingly expensive products. They’ve also started selling products that demand preliminary thinking. Web users can now buy contemporary paintings on bestmarques.com or discover your future apartment on venteprivee.com.

A new way of consuming

The principle is simple : to offer consumers the possibility to join a club whose members have the ‘priviledge’ to benefit from important discounts on famous brand items.

These items mostly come from unsold stocks, often from the previous year’s collections.

Registered customers are alerted by email about the date and the content of the online sale.

The concept is not new. Many brands have been holding private sales in their stores for selected customers who are alerted by mail, email or even text messages. But according to Dominique Fresney, head of communication for Brandalley.fr and annasand.com, there is one major difference with online private sales. « When you go to private sales in regular stores, you have 300 customers lining up on the sidewalk and its chaos inside the store. » For that very reason, a growing number of customers are turning to the Internet.

“It’s quick, cheaper and I shop from home !” Charlotte explains. On the web, thousands of visitors can rush to one sale without anybody stepping on your toes. With the added bonus of being able to shop at all time, day or night.

According to two studies published by Brandalley.fr and annasand.com on internet users at the end of the winter 2008 and July 2008 sales, the main reasons for buying online are to avoid the crowd and to have the ability to buy after hours.

« We create a certain craving to buy »

Fresney says the success lies in the very mechanism of it. « The members of those sites feel like VIPs, happy fews » he says. What makes the deal even better is that it looks like an exclusive opportunity to be seized. Private sales don’t last long, 24 to 48 hours maximum. And prices are always attractive. Buyers feel like they’re missing a good deal and it becomes a nagging desire even if they didn’t need or plan to buy that particular item that day.

Some people even wrote on Facebook, the popular social networking site, that they were sick of « putting the alarm clock at 6:45 am not to miss a great sweater with a 75% discount”.

“We create a sudden craving to buy,” says Fresney. “People feel like it would be silly not to buy at this price,.” Elodie, 25, a member of several private sales sites and a regular buyer admits that