The normal process of selling merchandise after manufacturing clothes is known as retailing. Most fashion brands sell clothes to retailers, who sell them to customers. These retailers buy the products from the brands about three to six months before customers will be able to get them in-store. So after they get the clothes at wholesale, they resell them at a higher cost.
In this article, we’ll be showing you why Fashion Nova, a fast-fashion company, does not need retail to successfully sell its products. The brand’s CEO, Richard Saghian, has built the brand in such a way that retail is simply not needed to boost its sales.
Let’s take a look at the things Fashion Nova has in place to ensure this.
1. It focuses on the trends
Do you know why Fashion Nova keeps on selling and growing to become one of the biggest brands?
It only focuses on trends.
What do we mean?
Fashion Nova has a social media team that scours the internet. They check out top celebrities and what fashion items are trending every day. With this information, they come up with their designs and produce them immediately.
So, before the end of the week, everyone can purchase similar, designer-inspired pieces on the Fashion Nova website.
Every new release on the online store sells out within hours or days, and then the cycle continues with new pieces.
Because Fashion Nova doesn’t produce clothes by the season, they do not need retail, fashion shows, or traditional fashion editorial to keep the business running.
As new trends come up, they hop on these trends and produce items everyone will rush to buy, thus eliminating the need for middle-men (people who will buy the clothes early to resell).
2. They ProduceAffordable Fashion Items
Fashion Nova’s products are priced competitively when compared to other brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel that sell individual pieces for thousands of dollars.
Richard Saghian understands that there are people who will not be able to purchase expensive products from other brands, so they decided to make their products super affordable.
Many people wonder if Fashion Nova’s products are of good quality because of their price, but the brand’s biggest fans tell their followers that the items are consistently of high quality.
Since people can get a very nice dress for $40, why would they need to go to retailers to get similar clothes for higher prices?
Instead of spending more money for less, many people would rather watch Fashion Nova’s site closely, wait for their favorite pieces to drop, and then snatch them up before they goes out of stock.
3. Great social media strategy
Fashion Nova’s social media strategy is what makes it stand out more than anything else. It has led to the massive growth of the brand over the past few years.
It is often regarded as an Instagram brand because that’s the platform Fashion Nova has used to achieve such incredible success. Since Saghian launched the online store in 2013, it has maintained the same Instagram strategy to grow the customer base and boost sales:
NovaBabes – Fashion Nova features its customers (NovaBabes) on the Instagram page when they upload pictures of themselves in Fashion Nova outfit and tag the brand. This increases the users of the product and interaction with the brand.
Influencers – Fashion Nova has a huge network of over 3000 micro- and macro-influencers who are lifestyle and fashion bloggers to increase their reach. By partnering with influencers, Fashion Nova reaches millions of people in a short time. Each influencer has a unique coupon code and includes this in their posts, prompting their followers to head over to the Fashion Nova store to purchase the same outfit.
High-profile celebrities – Fashion Nova also collaborates with high-profile celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Cardi B to promote its products. Cardi B has developed a deeper relationship with the brand. In 2019, she released her Fashion Nova collection that made $1 million in 24 hours.
According to Saghian, one post by Kylie Jenner can generate up to $50,000 in revenue.
By partnering with customers and influencers, Fashion Nova doesn’t need to rely on retail to keep the business running. They already have a dedicated customer base that enjoys their products and will keep buying.
Fashion Nova uploads a new picture on their feed every thirty minutes. One would think followers would get frustrated and leave the brand, but this isn’t the case.
Every post is fresh and engaging. People gladly drop their comments and tag their friends to shop for new styles before they go out of stock.
By releasing over 600 new styles weekly, Richard Saghian has maintained a strong brand that keeps on growing, He doesn’t need retail to fuel the business because it fuels itself. He doesn’t use traditional marketing strategies like fashion shows and magazine features and they have little to no interest in using SEO to grow the brand.
Using Instagram alone, he has been able to get millions of people to purchase Fashion Nova products. He plans to maintain the same strategies and not lose focus on the main goal – deliver the season’s most-wanted styles to millions of people at affordable prices.