Incu has shifted its focus to omnichannel retail, with plans to open more stores and localise its inventory offering.
Speaking with Ragtrader, Incu CEO Doug Low said the company has a 20/80 mix between online and brick-and-mortar sales respectively, where online saw a “whirlwind” through Covid.
“If you had spoken to me a year ago, I think very much the messaging was we're digital first,” Low said. “Whereas now we're realising that we're omni-first.
“80% of our business is still coming from brick-and-mortar – that's what people are very familiar with.
"We understand it a lot better because that's where our roots have come from, and I feel like we're still learning the digital space. There's still a couple of things that we need to fine tune."
According to Low, Incu has spent much of 2022 expanding and updating its stores. Earlier this year, the brand unveiled its largest store at Chadstone in Melbourne, and the Galeries' Mens Space in Sydney CBD was expanded.
Following this, the brand launched two additional Rag & Bone stores in both Doncaster, Victoria and Chatswood Chase, NSW.
Low is also preparing to open a new A.P.C. store in Sydney in May 2023.
“And then in late October [2023], we're looking at doing a remix of our two Galeries women's stores, which we're going to look at remixing and making one into a ready-to-wear store, and the other one solely focused on footwear and accessories.”
Currently, Incu holds 13 stores across Australia, which is a mix between Rag & Bone, A.P.C. and Incu.
A current challenge especially for brick-and-mortar stores is having to curate new staff, where many companies within fashion and retail struggling to lure in talent.
For Incu, the hiring of staff and dealing with turnovers through the media-dubbed ‘great resignation’ is particularly challenging as it drives to focus on creating a consistent customer experience.
“Obviously, with turnovers of staff, it's always hard because you've got to re-train people, and you got to find the right person to fit with the culture of your brand," Low said. "That's been a big one."
Part of this staffing challenge is fine-tuning the role of its store assistants.
“Now that the doors have reopened, there's a lot of pressure on the store staff because they're servicing clients, they're accepting stock, they're now fulfilling orders from online, they're answering phone calls - there's a whole lot of different things that they're doing.
“For us, we needed to scale back and work out what was the most effective thing, and also what we could handle. Because we didn't want to overload the store staff with too many responsibilities, which could lead to customers getting a poor experience.
“So it's been a real juggle for us, just to try and work out what is our take on omni and what feels right from the Incu perspective.”
Inventories & Categories
In line with its drive towards toward omni-channelling, Incu has also fine-tuned its stock ranges across its store locations to match local consumer demands and styles.
“Across our network and business, Incu is probably a little bit unique than a lot of other retailers where we tinker with the brand mix for each store," Low said.
“So, for instance, in Chadstone, customers want something with a big logo or branded items where they want people to know what they're wearing.
“Whereas at Pacific Fair, people are still discovering what the Incu brands are. Obviously, the seasonality of it, they're after a lot lighter pieces. It doesn't have to be branded things.”
In the Gold Coast, where Low and his office team regularly travel for business, they have noticed how particular the locals are about their fashion style.
“We almost feel like we're underdressed because they spend so much time and attention putting together all these outfits.
“And because it's so outdoorsy up there, they spend a lot of time exercising, so they want to show off their bodies and things like that.
“So then the mix is tailored to them, whereas in Sydney and Melbourne, the audience there knows us a little bit more, however, it's sometimes a little bit more subtle than Chadstone or Gold Coast.
“And even online has those little differences. What we're finding is that they're buying the brands that are more well known, the pieces that are quite well known.
“There's a trust in those brands; they experiment a little bit, but it's less so than in the Galeries.”
A particular category that Incu has focused on over the last few years, even through Covid, is footwear and sneakers. Its major brand inclusions are ASICS, Nike, Adidas and Solomon.
With Nike, the brand did a recent collaboration between it and Jacquemus on Friday, August 12. By Tuesday, August 16, the range was mostly sold out.
As for the future, an opportune category that Incu is keen to focus is denim. Low said he sees a role that a multibrand business like Incu can play with denim.
“If you want to buy denim, generally what we find is that you want to look and try on multiple pairs of denim, you want to look at different brands in one hit.
“So the options are either a department store or you're going to go directly to the Acne Studios or the A.P.C.s of the world that have opened up in Australia.
Low said that denim is also a harder fashion item to buy online, particularly because customers want to know how they fit.
“It's just about finding the right fit for you and having someone who's patient enough to take you through that experience. So that's probably the one area that we see as an opportunity.”
As for the future, Low said Incu is on a steady progression, but he is wary of the pending economic downturn, which some economists are reporting has already begun
“We're just starting to be a little bit more conservative in terms of the outlook. Hopefully everything's alright until Christmas spending starts, and then we kind of need to look beyond that to see what will happen.
“Hopefully we're able to be in a good position to weather the storm.”