SLIDESHOW: 5 Up-and-Coming Retailers for 2013
Fab.com
This site offers a little bit of everything that design junkies covet---including apparel, art, and furniture---offered at affordable prices. At less than two years old, Fab.com has raised over $150 million in private funding; in 2012 alone, it attracted 8.5 million new users. According to NerdWallet retail analyst Matt Ong, daily sales topped more than $1 million on several days this year. He says that in addition to plans for international expansion (Fab.com recently scored a seven-figure investment from the digital arm of India's largest media company), it's one of the pioneers in the transition from a pure "ecommerce" play into a brick-and-mortar one. "In light of the struggles of major big box retailers, Fab's decision to begin opening brick-and-mortar stores in 2013 demonstrates that the company is operating from a strong position of strength in the industry, and is aggressively looking to expand market share," says Ong. "It has the freedom to build retail stores as technically advanced and innovative as [Fab.com] would like, without having to redo an already existing store. Fab has a long-term vision of the future of design and retail that few other retailers can match."







