TechStyle Fashion Group hasn’t shied away from its background in tech, embracing e-commerce growth as both its present and future.
It changed its corporate name from JustFab to TechStyle last year and views its data-driven focus as the key to not only its own growth, but that of the entire retail industry.
“There’s no way you can capitalize on these growth factors, unless you have a strong technology background for your company,” said chief marketing officer Traci Inglis during a presentation Wednesday at the annual Etail West conference in Palm Desert. “It’s up to how we leverage technology as marketers [and] as retailers to take us to the next level.”
That focus on technology is how TechStyle has managed to get to $700 million in annual revenue in seven years. Leveraging data has helped other, newer companies to the market also grow to such a benchmark faster. Companies such as Asos, Under Armour and Lululemon all reached that $700 million figure in 12 years, according to a presentation from Inglis. Meanwhile, it took H&M 57 years, Steve Madden 21 years and Michael Kors 30 years to do the same.
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TechStyle president of global production Jack McCue said in November at the WWD Digital Forum in Los Angeles the plan is to hit $1 billion in sales in two years with plans to launch two more brands in the next 18 months. Those lines would join an existing portfolio that includes JustFab, ShoeDazzle, Fabletics and FabKids.
Integration and ownership of the supply chain, real estate, visual merchandising, data sciences, the CRM platform for members services and call centers has helped specifically in TechStyle’s case.
That control has allowed the company to go a step further when it comes to marketing to customers.
TechStyle’s activewear business Fabletics is the only one of its brands expanding at brick-and-mortar, where it closely monitors the activities of shoppers into its store. It knows how many items were tried on in fitting rooms last year — 89,000 — and can also measure dressing room conversions. Instead of sending shoppers an abandon cart follow-up e-mail, TechStyle will send an “abandon fitting room e-mail” with a discount or perhaps alternative product suggestion.
TechStyle makes it a point to send e-mails out at smarter times to its members and new customers that’s not based on the average time most people open their e-mails. They instead take the mode, which is based on the most common times people will open an e-mail.
The company saw a 6 percent lift in e-mail revenue from its best customers by employing this tactic, while sales from e-mails opened by new customers jumped 41 percent.
“Our new customers need a little more love and attention, so it’s critically important that we place that e-mail in their Inbox right at the moment that they’re most willing to engage with us,” Inglis said.
Other tactics TechStyle employs are personalized e-mails for its 2.5 million members. So while the hero images in an e-mail will be the same across the membership base, additional product images will be individualized to the e-mail recipient so that each member receives a unique e-mail based on what they like.
In the case of an abandoned cart online, TechStyle is testing a personalized video that can be created after a customer fills his or her cart but doesn’t purchase. The video features the items they left in their shopping basket, which includes their name and promotional offers.
The tactic is still being tested, so Inglis wasn’t able to provide how effective the video has been at conversions.
At the end of the day, the company’s ambitious in its plans, with Inglis saying, “We’re here to reimagine fashion.”