This episode of What Would We Do, delves into Fashion retailers in Australia and the USA. It reverse engineers what these Fashion brands are doing and references several new ideas that all Fashion retailers, high street and online, should consider and can use to boost sales. David Twigg and Chris Bugden deliver an insightful discussion that will inspire you and arm you with new ideas.
For more information or to contact David or Chris please go to http://whatwouldwedo.com.au
JINGLE: Broadcasting from sunny Brisbane,Queensland, Australia. You are
listening to Chris Bugden and David Twigg and the What Would We Do Podcast.
Chris: Hi guys Chris Bugden here. Myself and David Twigg here and our mission is to help inspire
ideas for your company. Each episode we will be delving into one specific marketplace
and reverse engineering what some big players are doing as well as imparting our knowledge wisdom
from the campaigns we've been involved in and books and podcasts we've read.
David: Yes between us we've been working in sales and marketing for many years
and we both love discussing business so we aim to inspire you. Today we are
going to delve into What we would do if we were starting a fashion brand. What things we would consider
adopting from established brands and what could we do better.
chris: Yes retailing is at the heart of any economy, we all need to buy things
and we all need to buy clothes though the importance of fashion seems to
be growing exponentially even amongst generations that historically haven't
hadn't bothered.
David: Yep my 7 year old son is a lot more concious of what he wears than i ever was
and his 5 year old brother is now in tune to what he likes and doesn't like. At the
same token the generation of my parents are frequently dressing sharply, so brands
like Ralph Lauren now have the 70+ generation as one of their marketing avatars.
Chris: So David you've been digging into the online presence of 3 modern
fashion brands, what sort of things did you find out?
David: Yes Chris so i used some of our tools we use to reverse engineer client accounts
as well as the competition of clients. I focused on 3 brands. The Iconic has really become
one of the big success stories of Australian fashion in the last few years but has
focused purely online. Lorna jane and Lululemon are fighting in a very similar space
to each other and so i thought a comparison of how they are doing it would make a good
case study. All 3 companies
Lorna Jane and The iconic were featured in Smart Company's top 20 retailers of 2015.
This is what they said about Lorna Jane:
Now in its 25th year, active wear retail brand Lorna Jane continues to enjoy rapid growth, especially when it comes to online sales.
Online sales for Lorna Jane grew by more than 30% in the past 12 months and now accounts for 14% of the company’s total turnover. The retailer has also amassed a big social media following, with more than one million fans on Facebook alone.
Lorna Jane is on track to hit $200 million in revenue this year,
which is no doubt also fuelled by the addition of 40 new international
bricks-and-mortar outlets to its network in the past 12 months.
A partnership with US fashion chain Nordstrom, announced this month,
will extend the reach of this homegrown brand even further.
This what they said about the iconic:
One of the newer players on the Australian retail scene, fashion marketplace
The Iconic continues to punch above its weight.
Founded in 2011, The Iconic has previously secured multi-million dollar
funding rounds, including a $28 million boost in mid-July 2013,
and more recently has focused on adding top international brands
to its stable of Australian designers, including UK high street label Brand New.
The Iconic has amassed an impressive 500,000 Facebook fans and more
than 80,000 followers on Instagram. In 2013, the retailer turned over $31 million.
What Smart Company didn't mention is that the iconic is part of huge online fashion retail
group called GFG which combined lost $235 million last year though sales are growing rapidly
and losses shrinking.
So let's get into what i found about The Iconic.
The iconic
1.2 million visits per month
Time on Site
Page views 10.59
bounce rate 26.49%
49.45% traffic from search 89% organic-11% paid
3.29% traffic from social (81.7% FB,7.4% YouTube)
14.76% traffic from referrals(311 referring sites)
Their Fb has very low engagement
588k likes
typical post gets 3-50 likes
Content marketing - Limited.....no story focus.....only promotional.
Affiliate marketing = Strong
Instagram
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Lorna jane vs lululemon
Lorna Jane
150,000 visits per month
05.02 mins time on site
5.24 page views
bounce rate 34.51%
search 41.41%(93% organic 7% paid)
social 2.25%
direct 37.64%
referrals 17.62% (from 101 sites)
FB engagement
1.2 million likes
20-200 likes per post...ok but should be more
One area of controversy is how Lorna Jane are managing their Facebook presence. They seem to have
an overall brand page and a page for every store as well. I think that particular conundrum is
a tricky one because often resources don't allow running hundreds of pages effectively and in
fact largely they just upload one post to all the store pages. If each store were to run
independant promotions or have unique lines i can see why they would run independant pages.
Also particularly if they were to run local competitions or feature local content then that would
definitely be a strong strategy however they aren't from what i can see they are spreading themselves
very thin, detracting from the main brand page and not capitalising on the Facebook infastructure they
have developed.
Now onto their content marketing and this is definitely one of their secret weapons.
They run a blog on a separate domain called MoveNourishBelieve.com
there is a Stunning Branded video ad as a popup optin when you land on the site
it really captures the essence and brand values of Lorna Jane and no doubt inspires their target market.
I haven't seen that done as well as that before but i suspect it's a very effective way of developing
their email database to compliment that effort through their online store and physical stores.
MoveNourishBelieve.com publishes stories, linking to lorna jane shop with simple product images and prices
It gets 50k visits per month
av page time 02.28
avg pages 2.42
Bounce rate 66.16%
ONLY 48% Of Audience in Australia(eg 22% in USA)
Top posts:
Build A Booty with Base Body Babes - Move Nourish Believe : 198k shares
7 days of no-fuss dinners, download your menu now - Move Nourish Believe : 10.6k shares
Why colouring in could curb your stress - Move Nourish Believe : 4.9k
#IAMWOMAN - ERIN MCNAUGHT - Move Nourish Believe : 4.5k
I really think lorna jane is ahead of the game here in developing an independant online property
that cross promotes their products. My only concern is that editorially they aren't quite hitting
the nail on the head. That said the ultimate purpose of the site is to send users to another site,
ie the lorna jane store, so a bounce rate of 66% is probably what they ideally want.
affilate marketing - mediocre
The Lorna Jane Pty Ltd affiliate program offers industry-leading technology, expert craftsmanship, and hi-tech performance fabrics to activewear for women. The brand represents a global movement of women living their best, most beautiful lives through active living.
Lululemon
60,000 visits per month
04.47 time on site
7.14 page views
bounce rate 23.65%
search 48.26%
social 2.2%(FB 53%,Pinterest 14%, Youtube 14%, Twitter 12%)
direct 27.22%
referrals 19.91% (from 33 sites mostly own sites overseas)
FB engagement
1.3 million likes, 10-300 likes per post = higher than lorna jane(? because they don't have
FB pages for each store rather one brand page and then city focused pages
Content marketing (blog subdomain)
beginner one-week meditation challenge: podcast #3 ; 2.2k shares
exercise anywhere : 1.8k
beginner one-week meditation challenge: podcast #1 : 970 shares
running meditation : 746 shares
yoga for sports : 743 shares
Affiliate marketing - no obvious plan
So that's what i found out about 3 high profile fashion retailers.
So, Chris if we were setting up a fashion brand from an online angle there would be a few learnings
i would be considering:
1. Content marketing : learn from lorna Jane, crafting stories and embeding promotion
but using social media to develop virality. I really don't think they are using Facebook
that well to both cross promote their MoveNourishbelieve.com content or their status
update content which should be less promotional anyway.They seem to be way more active
on Instragram interestingly, with 645,000 followers and average posts geting 4000-8000 likes.
Clearly engagement is easier for them through Instagram so i can see why they would
use it more but connecting Instagram to other online property is a lot harder than on Facebook
in other words converting instagram traffic.
2. Develop an affiliate program and make an effort to engage bloggers to promote your
products. The Iconic have a very good affilaite program and i imagine are developing
lots of referral channels simply by focusing on providing value to affiliates.
3. Don't use Facebook just to promote products. Read Gary vaynerchuck's book,
Jab, Jab, Right Hook and understand that promotion is far more powerful when
woven in amongst a story. i think all 3 brands are partially guilty here. Stories
that the target market relate to are where the viral wins occur. So keep jabbing with
non to light promotion and then insert a right hook with a promo, is for me the key
strategy.
4. Regarding your website focus clearly on the navigation, consider the way Coles and
Woolworths have planned their grocery aisles in a specific way to encourage shoppers
to maximise spend. Think of the store as a maze and this is the pathway an ideal prospect
would take, how can we make that easier by reducing any friction incurred on that journey.
5. An abandon cart strategy is an absolute no brainer. Every single day users in the droves
get buyers remorse after filling out an order form but just choke or get distracted at
the buy now button. They need to be reminded and have their hand held back to the checkout
as they have demonstrated they want to buy.
So that's my take on the online fashion world, Chris. I have been of the believe for many years
that Westfield and all the major shopping mall owners are on a slippery slope to the bottom.
Yet in the states the physical store showroom model is starting to get plenty of traction, which
i find fascinating. I think you've delved into a brand called the Bonobos Guideshop.
