Q&A: eBags’ Peter Cobb Explains Secrets to His Company's Record-Breaking Success

eBags, the online bags retailer, recently launched behaviorally targeted emails and an aggressive search engine optimization campaign — as well as offering 30 percent off and free shipping for purchases over $100 on Cyber Monday — to celebrate the kickoff of the holiday shopping season. The results speak for themselves: eBags enjoyed record-breaking sales this past Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving Day saw sales up 56 percent from the previous year; Black Friday set an eBags all-time record with a sales increase of 76 percent vs. 2009; and Saturday and Sunday saw increases of 77 percent and 57 percent, respectively. Black Friday's one-day sales record was short lived, however, as Cyber Monday's sales total took that honor, with sales up 54.3 percent from last year.

To find the secret to eBags’ success, Retail Online Integration spoke with Peter Cobb, co-founder and senior vice president of the online bag retailer.

ROI: This was a record-breaking year for eBags in terms of sales. To what do you attribute your success?
Peter Cobb: This holiday we're seeing a mass migration from brick-and-mortar to online. People are seeing "Doors opening at 2 a.m.," and I think they're realizing, "I don't have to do that. I can shop at home 24 hours a day online." There's really a gaming aspect to retail these days that seems to be resonating with people. If you don't get in and purchase, it's going to be gone. Consumers understand that and realize, "I need to buy it today because it may not be there tomorrow." Our Cyber Monday deal certainly won't be there tomorrow.

I also think consumers have a little bit more confidence this year in making purchases...a little bit of retail therapy. They've been pent up for so long that they want to get out and spend a little, especially if they feel like they're winning in this tug of war between the customer and the retailer.