ONLINE ONLY: Social Media and E-Commerce
Shop Jeen and Nasty Gal sound like fun names for a punk band, but they originally started as just ideas in their creator’s minds. In Sophia Amoruso’s book, “#GIRLBOSS” she tells of her rags to riches kind of journey of buying vintage clothes and selling them on Ebay which led her to eventually create Nasty Gal and sell vintage clothes on there as well as collections of designers the brand has teamed up with. Shop Jeen had a similar startup process where CEO and Co-Founder Erin Yogasundram started selling clothes and accessories and lifestyle pieces out of her George Washington University dorm room, (The Cut). Both stores have had a large impact on social media and many millennials have heard and bought from the companies that are known for their predominantly woman audience. Social media has shown that these brands are more than just their website. On Instagram, Nasty Gal has over 2 million followers and Shop Jeen has over 459,000, a large following means a large amount of consumers.
Shop Jeen
Shop Jeen has only been around for three years, it has already moved from New York to Los Angeles to be closer to vendors and their consumers, (The Cut). The move has not been without struggle as Erin had to lay off 10 of the 15 employees, (The Cut). She stated in an interview with Alexis from The Cut in New York Magazine, “We wanted to use this as an opportunity to really do things right, lay out processes, and build it back up from day one,” Erin says. She admits that she’s not a great manager.
“It’s my weakest point. I’ve literally only been alive for 23 years.” It is hard to believe that someone who three years ago was selling clothes out of her room has become a social media sensation with a store that many buy from even though it is only online.
Erin started Shop Jeen with it being an accessories only online store. She bought skull bracelets that were originally $1.50 and sold them for $15. The process for the website and social media are very simple, “She taught herself how to code, built the site on her own, and took selfies modeling the pieces. Her social-media strategy was to follow every single person who followed Nasty Gal on Instagram, wait for them to follow her back, and then unfollow them a few days later. She’d get upwards of 25,000 likes on her posts and made $50,000 from Shop Jeen her first month,” (The Cut).
Nasty Gal
Nasty Gal had more humble beginnings than Shop Jeen and Sophia Amoruso has become the “Girl Boss” for many. 9 years ago Nasty Gal officially started and in that time has amassed millions of customers, “She opened an eBay store selling vintage clothing she scavenged herself. Sales soared from $223,000 in 2008 to $23 million in 2011, landing Nasty Gal on Inc.’s annual list of fastest-growing private companies,” (Inc).
“Nasty Gal now has two retail stores in the Los Angeles area, both of which opened in the last 13 months. Amoruso may have started out as a girl with a laptop and an idea, but by all appearances, she knows exactly what she wants to do next,” (Inc).
Companies such as Nasty Gal and Shop Jeen have a niche audience that is loyal and unwavering. Other companies have been inspired by the brands and more and more clothing stores are opening up that are online only before they think about having the brick and mortar structured store that has been famous in the past century for consumerism and companies to get their name out there.
Laguna Shores
Finding someone to interview that was in the e-commerce industry was hard, but I was recommended to interview Josh Krutchik, the owner and co-founder of Laguna Shores, a Californian inspired clothing company. Josh is a freshman at DePauw University, in Greencastle, Indiana. I asked him several simple questions that gave me a breadth of information about Laguna Shores and the ideas and goals that the company has for the future. He comes across as though he has had a business before and he has firm plans for the company and still has a main focus be on his education.
“What made you want to start Laguna Shores? Did the inspiration come from anywhere?”
“I have always been interested in fashion and one of my first friends was a management fellow, (our equivalent of a business program) and I saw it as such a great opportunity to start Laguna Shores. My style was different than the kids who grew up in the Midwest their whole lives, so I was inspired to take the California look to a new place.”
Josh has a simple goal for spreading a style to fresh places that have not seen it as much as elsewhere. This makes it possible for more customers to be interested.
“Like Nasty Gal and Shop Jeen, do you have a niche audience, or are your customers from all different backgrounds?”
“We’re really targeting college students. I feel like a lot of companies have been up charging their clothes like crazy just because they have a hip brand name that a lot of college students wear, and that doesn’t seem right to me. I’d love to give college students across the country a better-made, stylish, and more affordable look that they can get more involved with too.”
This shows that Josh knows exactly what he is doing, and better yet he is a part of his own audience which makes it easier to find out what the customer would want.
“Did you have a humble beginning with Laguna Shores where you designed a shirt and then it took off or what?”
“Laguna Shores really started with months and months of planning and writing business models. We started this process in August, and didn’t start selling until March 14th. We really wanted to make sure we did things the right way, instead of just creating clothing and figuring things out along the way.”
Josh and Michael have gone about their company the best way possible. ShopJeen had to rebuild itself and is slowly gaining back its reputation after some sour reviews reported to the Better Business Bureau, and for selling a faux Chanel phone case, (Business Insider). Laguna Shores took months of planning to take off the ground running, and while there will always be bumps in the road, I personally see it better than taking off and reformulating heavily throughout the process. Planning an online business is not something that can be done in one day, and Laguna Shores proves that.
“I see that most of the clothing is designed and made just for your company, would you think of expanding and having vendors or do you like just having it be purely Laguna Shores based? Would you consider having a brick and mortar store or stick with online only?”
“In the future, we’re definitely looking at going into some retail stores, but for now, we don’t have the demand or capital to do so. Hopefully in a few years, Laguna Shores will be more well-known, and from there, retail is definitely one of our next steps. For now, we’re going to be solely e-commerce, as it’s the easiest and most current form out there.”
“How has social media impacted the company, and has it helped gain customers and if so, how?”
“To Laguna Shores, social media is everything. This is where all of our advertising is, and since we’re going after the college market, this is the place where the majority of our customers will be spending their time. We’re trying to get as many people to follow us on social media and give as many incentives as possible for people to get involved and engage with us.”
After the interview where I thanked Josh for his time, he told me to follow Laguna Shores on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as tell my friends, once again showing that social media is Laguna Shores’ backbone as is word of mouth.
Shop Jeen, Nasty Gal and Laguna Shores all started with simple ideas to make brands reach farther than before and to have quality products that customers want and cannot get necessarily somewhere else. Social media has made the companies what they are today and that makes it even better for them to gain more consumers of their products that can get more and more people invested in the brands. The three companies I focused on each had a different approach to e-commerce, but they show that with social media, if anything, they are gaining more and more loyal followers and customers.
