I look everywhere for inspiration. I now own a
Tesla, and the process of buying my car was very
informative as I thought about my own business.
Since I was starting a sustainable brand, I was
intrigued by how Tesla does not market itself as
sustainable. Instead, it describes itself as the best
car out there. I realized the same was true for a
fashion company: Sustainability is so important,
but you need to give the customer a stellar peice
and a fantastic experience.
I am also inspired by how Tesla re-imagined
the retail experience. Buying a car should be fun,
and for the most part, it’s not. Tesla found a way
to turn that experience around. Think about
traditional car lots, which are expensive from
a real estate and perspective. You’ve got to ask
yourself, Why? Do people really need to see the
actual car they are going to buy? Tesla decided
that the way things were done was ridiculous, so
they created retail experiences where they only
display one car and let the customer build their
own car online, which is then delivered to them.
Then there’s the fact that most people feel
really insecure about buying a car, and often
need to go shopping with someone whom they
feel has more experience. They’re worried that
they might get a raw deal, or they don’t know
how to talk about the technicalities. Tesla, on
the other hand, equips the customer with all
the information they need through their website
and informed sales associates. And importantly,
there’s no pressure to buy a car when you’re
shopping. There’s something pretty great about
that: It’s fun and easy and liberating.
When it comes to clothing, I think the whole
experience totally sucks. Unless you’re buying,
clothing stores tend to have racks and racks of
clothing you need to rifle through. It’s highly
impossible to keep that inventory organized so
you might never find your size. Then when you
try on clothes, you’re stuck in a tiny changing
room with terrible lighting. The goal of the store
is often to get you out as soon as possible so
someone else can use the room. I asked a lot
of people what they thought about the average
shopping experience, and most of them, like
me, hate it. So I used some of these insights to
build an entirely new experience. Our new store
in San Francisco will have touchscreen monitors
where customers can pick the clothes they want
to try. The outfits will appear in the fitting rooms.
The way we use space in the store is totally
different: Rather than using the main floor to store
racks of clothes in every size, we only display a
couple of best-selling outfits. The majority of the
store is devoted to really plush, luxurious fitting
rooms instead of the cheap, uncomfortable rooms
that most stores have.
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