A fashion shoe designer recently made this statement:
“I realized I should have brought this concept directly to the consumer. She lives in digital, and we’re operating in analog.”
The comment was made by Tamara Mellon, co-founder of the highly covetable fashion shoe line, Jimmy Choo.
She ran into trouble in 2013 with her investors when it became obvious that the business couldn’t maintain its current course.
They were losing millions.
They also didn’t like Mellon’s proposal, which was to cut out the luxury retailers altogether and sell her shoes online for the wholesale price.
So Mellon took her reorganization plan to bankruptcy court and found herself a new venture capital investor.
She just launched her new site last year, offering dazzling shoes without the retail markup.
What Mellon did is what I hope to encourage you to do. Ask yourself a very simple question:
How can I make things easier for my customers and clients?
Mellon recognized the shift in consumer behavior (although other fashion industry insiders are still clueless about how this is affecting them).
For instance, design houses are struggling with how to make “Fashion Week” still relevant in the age of Twitter and Instagram.
People don’t want to wait months to get the newest trends from the runways.
Once they see something they like, they want to be able to hop onto their laptops or smartphones and place an order today.
Mellon wryly observes, “We are living in a digital revolution. This industry has to go through the pain that the music and film industries went through. It’s going to be interesting to see what comes out the other side and how they [the designers] do it.”
There are still a lot of people trying to figure out how to use digital in their business. How to make things easier. Even for those “technically-challenged.”
I do this with marketing.
I make things easy by finding solutions that are a smart investment.
And create enough sales so you can splurge on those Frontline Nappa sandals.
By the way… Mellon’s new website’s home page?
It doesn’t give you access to the rest of the site unless you subscribe to her email list.
Smart woman.
If you’d like to get some ideas for creating your own “Red Velvet Rope” experience, reach out.
There’s a right way to connect with your well-heeled prospective buyers and a wrong way.
I’ll make sure you’re strutting your stuff the right way.
Your “Business Fashion” adviser…
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