Dive Brief:

• Incoming online retailer Jet.com’s CRO Scott Hilton Tuesday said he expects the yet-to-launch site’s gross merchandise volume to reach $20 billion in five years, eclipsing the company’s earlier predictions of $5 billion by then.

• Hilton said the company expects a million members by the end of the year, 15 million in five years.

• After a presentation unveiling the expectations, Hilton then called the lofty predictions “conservative.”

Dive Insight:

Jet has been garnering steady investments, a hefty $600 million valuation, and, above all, serious buzz in recent months, well ahead of launch (expected to be this spring, date yet undetermined). This talk from Jet’s higher-ups could be so much exuberant expectation-setting, but talking to Hilton leaves the definite impression that the company really believes its predictions will come true. 

So far, little is known about which companies will be on Jet’s marketplace. What is known is that Jet plans to make all its money from its $50 per year membership fee, and that’s it, allowing it to keep prices very low. The site also will offer a variety of ways for customers to save even more money, by opting in or out of shipping options or other variables. 

If Jet proves as successful as it expects to be, it may be the first retailer to truly shake up Amazon since Amazon began shaking up retail decades ago.

“[The] appetite for innovation in e-commerce is massive,” CEO-founder Marc Lore told The Wall Street Journal. “This fact combined with the additional capital we have recently raised has given us further conviction to invest more aggressively in growth.”