Madeleine, myself, Sarah and Ant from the my-wardrobe.com team
“Oh gosh I love your ring! Show me!” was the first thing Sarah Curren said me to me when we met and I was thinking exactly the same thing of her. Cocktail rings over coffee meant I’d met a woman after my own heart, not to mention her Camilla Skovgaard pumps and Missoni cardigan.
Sometimes blogging can be a little bit like living in a bubble: you don’t go to an office everyday, there are no staff meetings or rosters to attend to, no maddening boss or Friday night drinks. It means that when you do come together to partner or work with people, it helps when they understand just how unique it is to work solely in the online space.
Enter My-wardrobe.com who are about to make a splash into the Australian market for high end goods e-tailing. Sarah Curren the CEO and her team were here during RAFW so it was with great delight that I got to meet the people who helped make my trip possible. When I was looking for a partner it made sense to work with someone that worked online as well.
“Online is our business, it’s what we specialise in and why we can do it so well. I’ve had a boutique but having a website is totally different,” Sarah tells me over coffee. “Our key demographic is 27-47 year old women who are confident and know their own style. They like to shop online and we believe they want to hear from a credible source. Net-a-Porter is for the runway and red carpet looks, Asos cater for fast fashion. We’re more of a reality really,” she says.
According to Ecommerce Report, Australia’s ecommerce marketplace will grow by $6 billion over the next four years, from $12 billion in 2010 to $18 billion by the end of 2014. I was curious to know how they thought the market here would respond to My-wardrobe.com.
“It’s shifting. By shopping online you can get more for your money in that retail buyers can miss out on complete collections due to budget restraints, but we don’t have those same issues. It means we can bring more choice and be far more competitive, ” says Antony Hawman, My-wardrobe.com’s brand partnership manager. “Selfridges do amazing in-store engagement through window display, lighting and visual merchandising. But they can’t translate that online. We try to pay attention to details like the way items are photographed and presented so our customers don’t miss out on that experience,” he says.
Sarah and Ant
It struck me that they really seemed to understand how and why women not just shop, but interact online and I mentioned that it was refreshing to meet people that make that their primary focus as a business tool.
” Genuine relationships are important to me. Whether it’s with the customers, designers or suppliers, there has to be integrity and trust. If there is negative feedback for example on someones customer service experience, I reply to that customer personally. It’s so important, ” says Sarah.
“And that’s the same with choosing who we partner with. We only work with a number of key influencers within the fashion community because we know that our customers, and their readers will see through a relationship that isn’t genuine, and I don’t work like that.”