Seattle-Based Online Retailer Zulily Wil Liquidate, Then Close

After first announcing it was laying off workers a number of weeks ago, now Seattle-based national online retailer Zulily has said they will close down.

Company founded in Seattle in 2010

The company burst onto the online retail scene 13 years ago, founded by Mark Vaden and Darrell Cavens, the company rapidly grew by catering to the online shopping needs of families with small children. Three years later it went public and was listed on NASDAQ.

However, in 2014 it was taken private when it was purchased by the parent company of QVC, Qurate, for $2.4 billion dollars.

The company began to experience struggles as it tried to compete with Amazon and other growing online retailers. CEO Terry Boyle left in October, the company was purchased by a private equity firm Regent in May.

The financial struggles continued until the company posted a statement on its website that it was liquidating all of its assets and then would close. It read in part:

"As previously announced, 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. This decision was not easy nor was it entered into lightly. However, given the challenging business environment in which Zulily operated, and the corresponding financial instability, Zulily decided to take immediate and swift action."

The company has entered what is called an "ABC," or Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, where as many orders as possible will be fulfilled with the profits going to creditors, refunds will be issued for those that cannot be fulfilled, and they apparently are hoping to complete the process by late January of 2024.