Zulily has officially gone out of business, The Krazy Coupon Lady has learned. On Dec. 22, 2023, the vice president of Douglas Wilson Companies issued a statement that "Zulily, LLC and its parent Zulily Group LLC (collectively, “Zulily”) made the difficult but necessary decision to conduct an orderly wind-down of the business to maximize value for the companies’ creditors."
Back on Dec. 8, we knew something was up; the online retailer announced the "Going out of business" sale on their website and their Instagram account, stating, "Everything must go. Shop final sale items at the link in bio."
The website went down for maintenance and we've learned that hundreds of employees were terminated early. When we first reported on this closure, employees were given until Feb. 7, 2024, but as of Dec. 13, 2023, they've all been let go.
In a letter from Richard Ormand, Manager and Chief Restructuring Officer at Zulily, employees were notified on Dec. 13 that it would be their final day. Accounts and email addresses were shut down and business ceased, just like that.
Unfortunately, Zulily follows the recent news that Jane.com shuttered and other stores going out of business in 2023. Zulily, which was founded in 2009, and is based in Seattle, Wash., started as a children's clothing business before pivoting to share deals on brands like Fisher-Price, Ugg, Sorel, and more. While we are unclear exactly when Zulily will close their site down for good, the company has started their final sale advertising, similar to what we saw happen at Bed, Bath & Beyond and buybuy Baby.
Here's everything we know so far about Zulily.com closing.
Zulily announced on Friday, Dec. 8 that they are going out of business and have listed all items as "final sale."
All sales are final during Zulily's going-out-of-business sale. Place an order on Friday, and additional orders ship free the rest of the weekend as the retailer looks to offload their inventory. Shipping is usually a flat rate of $5.99, depending on your location. You can see latest Zulily deals, but remember these are final sale.
If you are waiting on a Zulily order that you purchased recently, it's expected that your order will still ship to you, but Zulily has not responded for comment at this time. We will update this article as soon as we hear.
On Dec. 13, Zulily employees were let go — two months earlier than expected.
In an article published on Dec. 9, by GeekWire, the site reported that "Zulily is laying off employees and closing three offices — including its Seattle headquarters." This gave an inkling into the turmoil that Zulily.com has been facing.
According to the article, the layoffs were to go into effect on Feb. 7, 2024. We expected these "final going out of business sales" to last until then. But four days later, the website shut down and employees let go — nearly two months early.
Amid the closure and layoffs, Zulily was also hit with two lawsuits from vendors reporting unpaid invoices. Lawsuits filed by software development consultancy GenUI and third-party logistics company Omni Logistics earlier this year, total nearly $2.9 million in unpaid services.
In a lawsuit of their own, Zulily is suing Amazon. Zulily claims that Amazon coerced vendors to increase prices for Zulily while keeping Amazon prices lower. Thus, making it impossible to compete.
As of Dec. 22, 2023, Zulily is no longer in business.
In a letter to Zulily customers, vice president of Douglas Wilson Companies stated that the decision had been made to wind-down operations at Zulily. The attribute the quick closure to a challenging business environment and the financial instability that came along with it. We can only assume they mean the issues they've had competing with Amazon.
The VP had some notes for Zulily shoppers and we wanted to share them as we'd been posting deals for them right up until their website was shut down.
First, Zulily is attempting to fulfill all pending orders within the next two weeks. If your order was unable to ship, Zulily will cancel the order and refund your money. If you do not receive a refund by Jan. 22, 2024, you can reach out to their claims agent, Omni Agent Solutions, at 888-202-5829 or (+1) 747-288-6406 outside the U.S. Email is also available at ZulilyCustomersABC@OmniAgnt.com.
If you're a vendor and have questions or concerns, you can email Omni at ZulilyABCInquiries@omniagnt.com.
Be mindful that you can no longer return items that you buy on Zulily from this point on.
All sales are now final sales, which means you cannot return any items. Unfortunately, their FAQ section isn't updated with information around the closing yet. But be aware that anything you purchase from Zulily right now cannot be returned.
We saw a banner on their website on Friday about going out of business and all items being final sale, but as of this update on Dec. 11, that has been removed. Now, all product listings say, "This item is not eligible for return. See our Returns Page for more information." Just know, nothing can be returned from this point on.
Here's what to do if you have a Zulily credit card (spoiler alert: keep paying that balance).
This probably goes without saying, but just because Zulily will be no longer doesn't mean your Zulily credit card balance vanishes, too. You must pay off a store credit card balance even if the store has shut its doors (virtual ones, in this case).
Your Zulily credit card isn't issued by Zulily themselves, but rather Synchrony Bank. The issuer (in this case Synchrony) should reach out to all cardholders shortly telling them when the card will no longer be active.
There is one potential way your Zulily credit card account could stay active, however. This particular card can also be used at QVC and HSN. Since these two retailers are still in business, it's possible the credit issuing bank could keep the account open. Of course, if you don't shop at either of those retailers, there's no real reason to keep the account active.
The Krazy Coupon Lady has reached out to Synchrony for guidance on what Zulily cardholders should expect in the coming weeks and how to proceed. Until we hear back, stay tuned...
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