The Missguided Way

For a business that is being six years old, Misguided, an online fashion company, is thriving in its industry, according to Manchester Evening News. Targeting college students and young adults using various forms of discounts, according to its motto, Missguided makes it so shopping is a right and not a luxury. It is not only an outlet for rapid fashion, but it strived to create “exclusive” pieces that are affordable and trendy for women at the same time, according to the Missguided website.

Founded in 2008, Missguided has grown rapidly beyond its borders according to Fashionista Magazine. Founder Nitin Passi based this fashion company online, in the UK, with very little business experience. Because the recession hit, the only headlining growth during that time came from online. Passi started to look online to see what the demand was.

“Younger fashion I thought, there was a bigger demand for it and fewer people were doing it,” Passi told Fashionista Magazine.

Missguided has targeted college students by giving them special discounts on their overall purchases. Recently the fashion website crashed due to heightened activity after giving special offers and sales to its customers. Itohan Osayaren, a cheerleader at the University of Nevada, was introduced to the website a year ago by a friend. She was looking for a ‘poppin’ party dress.

“I was looking for a new party dress for an upcoming event when my friend introduced me to Missguided on twitter,” Osayaren said.

“She had a few items herself from the site, so I decided to check them out”

“I like how, as students, we get a 20 percent discount on all of our purchases,” Osayaren said.

In Passi’s interview with Fashionista Magazine, he says that during the beginning process it was a learning curve for him and he basically had to jump into the deep end and test everything. Not hiring his first employee until about six months after the launch of the website, things were pretty nontraditional for a while. He had goals but didn’t know how to reach them. After any trials and errors, he jump-started the base of Missguided.

Missguided focused deeply on the products being sold. This including the product quality and the pricing and what their customers want, the website states.

“The customers want choices, we just have to be better than our competition,” Passi tells Fashionista Magazine.

Being focused on the customer is one of Missguided’s key beliefs. On the website, they want to make known that their “creating an online fashion destination that encompasses and celebrates everything it means to be a girl in a digitally immersed world today.”

Jessica Lauren, a fashion blogger of “No Real Jewelry” has recently become a frequent shopper of Missguided.

“I’ve bought almost everything from Missguided, shoes, pants, coats and skirts,” Lauren said. “I can always find classic staples and they are always on trend and inexpensive.”

Missguided is branded as a “cheap, cheerful, and quick” online label shadowing celebrity looks at inexpensive prices, according to The Guardian. Cassie Sanders, a graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno, had a few ideas of her own when it came to affordable fashion.

“To me, as a college student, it means I can spend less so I can buy more,” Sanders said.

Many of the Missguided customers have created clothing hauls when they review merchandise from an online site they have received from the company and posts it to YouTube to share with the other girls around the world.

Missguided has seen so much growth over the past few years, according to The Retail Bulletin. According to The Guardian, Missguided’s revenue has gone from eight million euros to 55 million euros in three years.

“We were very, very competitive in the UK, in terms of pricing,” Passi told Fashionista Magazine.

After the first two years of business, they had a strong idea of what were the right product and the right price as well as their audience, according to Passi. Based on its website, making sure that the customers get the most value and giving them what they want are something’s that Misguided think it can continue and always improve on.