A US-based fashion etailer touted as one of America’s fastest-growing retailers has revealed plans to tighten its grip on the Australian market.
ModCloth, a 275-employee operation founded in 2002 by entrepreneurs Susan Gregg Koger and Eric Koger, carries a wide assortment of vintage-inspired fashion and decor from over 700 designers and was named “America’s Fastest-Growing Retailer” by Inc. magazine in 2010.
As part of an exclusive interview with Ragtrader, ModCloth chief marketing officer Kerry Cooper recently revealed that Australia is the company's third biggest market, behind the United States and Canada, and there are plans to invest in a more targeted approach to the local market.
“We’re definitely thinking of ways to better connect with and make the shopping experience easier for our international customers, especially for our active and growing Australian following,” she said.
“Increasingly, we’re developing creative that’s specific to region – for example, this year we had a special Boxing Day sale targeted to our Canadian, Australian, New Zealand,and British newsletter subscribers. In October, we also participated in 'Frocktober', which is an Australian organisation whose mission is to raise awareness and funds for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation of Australia.”
Cooper also revealed some of the
secrets behind the etailer's success, and gave a snapshot of upcoming
trends.
“Our aim is to empower our community of shoppers
through a social commerce platform that brings products to market
with customer feedback and validation. We have built a very loyal
community through engaging, interactive contests on our blog, and
active involvement in social networks such as Twitter and Facebook,
and we’re gaining attention for our use of new niche social
platforms, such as Instagram and Pinterest. These applications allow
users to create beautiful and inspiring content, and find like-minded
friends to follow, and have proven to be a huge referral traffic
driver for online retailers. Programs like Be the Buyer, also allow
customers to vote items from emerging designers into production,”
she said.
“In terms of trends, we think discovery-based shopping will continue to grow and I think we’ll see a lot more user-curated product discovery experiences in the near future. Our shopper is always connected, so I think we’ll continue to also see massive growth in mobile, as well as marketers and e-commerce companies generally finding ways to better connect with her in those small moments of downtime.
“Another big trend going on in e-commerce merchandising right now is time constraint and impulse, which you see companies like Gilt and Groupon employing. We leverage this with our everyday merchandising by launching 25 to 50 items per day and launching small lots. Our customer is driven to visit frequently, see what’s new, and buy before an item sell out.”
Cooper said online retailers also have a lot to learn when it comes to building a consistent customer following.
“I think some of the biggest mistakes online retailers are making now are not taking advantage of how easy it has become to communicate with their customer. It’s important to have somewhere to engage in conversation, whether that’s on social media, blogs, or wherever he/she is,” she said.
“Also, I believe brands have to focus on events that will drive loyalty and customer lifetime value, as opposed to looking for the quick customer and quick conversion. The online fashion businesses that will survive will be the ones that focus on building loyalty and creating a compelling reason for the shopper to visit the site habitually.”