An Audience with My-Wardrobe

Last night we went along to a Q and A session with founder and CEO of My-Wardrobe, Sarah Curran and PR Director, Lauren Stevenson. The event was organised and hosted by Manchester Fashion Network.

My-Wardrobe.com went live in 2006 and now receives over 800, 000 visitors each month. Sitting comfortably between Net-a-Porter and ASOS, the affordable luxury brand has won numerous accolades and was recently listed as number three of the Online Fashion 100.

Sarah and Lauren were extremely open and generous in sharing information about the company and how it had grown from two to almost 90 staff. They offered some great insights into marketing, PR and e-commerce.

When Lauren joined the company in 2007 to build the in-house PR and Marketing team, she had two main objectives: to build a personality for the brand and to seek industry endorsement. She accomplished both in a relatively short space of time.

The initial challenge, she explained, was to create awareness of the brand. Meeting with all areas of the press from endorsers such as Vogue, Harpers, Elle and Marie Claire to the Sunday supplements and Grazia, she managed to obtain industry approval and at the same time drive sales.

With the growth of e-commerce and many fashion brands now selling direct to consumer as well as through stockists, their challenge today is to ensure that the press write about the brands in relation to My-Wardrobe.

Lauren puts their PR success down to good relationships, providing exceptional photography and making the journalist’s job as easy as possible. You need a very clear idea of what the brand is and what makes it different to other brands. In the case of My-Wardrobe what makes it different is its personality. Rather than taking a traditionally prescriptive approach, My-Wardrobe has adopted a fun, friendly tone which is pushed consistently throughout the site and marketing channels. Combined with exciting content and a growing community this makes for an exceptional user experience.

The My-Wardrobe brand has become synonymous with MY-TV, the site’s video channel. Sarah explained that the use of video brings the clothes and accessories to life. You can see how the clothes are worn, how they hang and at the same time learn about latest trends and how to wear the latest styles. Products are listed alongside videos providing a quick route for customers to purchase featured items.

During questions at the end of the event the subject of customer retention was raised. Both Lauren and Sarah agreed that customer acquisition and customer retention were equally important in achieving company growth. Sarah went on to add that having no customer retention is like having ‘a bucket with a hole in it’.

The subject of social media was also discussed and Lauren talked a little about how they had embraced it. Describing social media as a ‘word of mouth’ channel she talked about the importance of customer feedback, building relationships and allowing an open conversation. Customer comments, whether through Twitter, Facebook or through their feedback company, Feefo are not censored and all comments are answered.

Their recent Denim Dash Facebook campaign, involving five pairs of jeans, several clues and a dash around London, proved extremely popular. The campaign was shared across different channels and Lauren talked about the importance of a multi-channel approach to marketing.

In terms of the most successful marketing channel, Sarah confirmed that this was direct email marketing, stressing the importance of targeted email campaigns as opposed to a blanket approach.

As the event drew to a close one theme stood out. ‘Integrity’ had been a recurring subject throughout the evening; integrity in product selection, integrity in marketing and integrity in customer management. From the website experience, to customer services, to managing social media channels, it is clear that My-Wardrobe has adopted an open and honest approach to all aspects of their business. Both Sarah and Lauren referred back to this on a number of occasions and it is clearly something that it at the heart of My-Wardrobe.