5 Innovative Strategies From Nordstrom For Budding Fashion Retailers

Abhishek Shah
ThugStart
Published in
3 min readMay 4, 2016

Nordstrom Inc. the leading US upmarket fashion retailer, strives to stand apart with services. Be it the vision, strategy or even ground level deployment services, Nordstrom always comes up with the most innovative and path breaking ways to cater to its fashion conscious end consumers.

In the prevailing tight market conditions, customers are constantly looking for faster and effective services. In the world of fashion and retail merchandise, the contest is always neck to neck with other leading peers.

Nordstrom has recently published its annual report, stressing on its efforts to be on the lead with retail innovation. The same can be even vouched for by its loyal and ever growing customers. The brand’s undivided attention to service makes shopping an absolute delight. Their personal touch with the feelings and pulse of the market segment is pretty evident in the form of many outstanding strategies that have been rolled out lately.

Text the Sales Associate, Now Directly!

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Nordstrom’s latest initiative, TextStyle, is a new service deployed at all the centers that facilitates shopping by texting with a sales associate. Customers can now make secure purchases while directly interacting with the sales associate or a personal stylist via text messages. The TextStyle strategy from the company enables consumers to experience a personalized styling. The service is fast, secure, seamless, and provides extreme privacy while scouting for the specifics.

Super Efficient Mobile Shopping

The company offers great mobile shopping experience, period. There have also been recent enhancements on the mobile app that make shopping super simple. There is also a personalized home page, complete integration with the Nordstrom Rewards loyalty program and facility for the customers to shop merchandise at their nearby store.

Shop on the Curb

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Nordstrom’s new strategy, Curbside delivery is another great move. When the store lines are full, the customers need not get dejected. They can now pick up their merchandise by driving up to a specific spot at the store, or in the parking area, to pick up the merchandise that they have ordered by email. Curbside method is very useful for busy moms with kids. This strategy not only reduces traffic inside the stores, but also keeps the sales going. Precisely why Nordstrom exceeds the industry rates already, with more than 21% of total sales coming from the online channel alone.

The All New IVY Park

Nordstrom introduced IVY PARK in 54 full line stores this year. A new line of active wear for women developed by pop sensation Beyonce and Sir Philip Green. This line features “second skin” pieces, that include fluted tank tops with concealed sport bras. There are also seamless knit body suits, logo sweatshirts, jersey tank tops, as well as over-sized T-shirts in basketball mesh.

Useful Collaborations

Nordstrom had recently announced retail partnerships with successful brands such as Topshop, Topman, and Madewell. A great move by the company to join hands with growing brands that have exclusive U.S. department store distribution through Nordstrom. These kind of collaborations attract new customers to the store. Plus, these brands also have their own stores in selected cities. Such arrangements have great effect on the traffic that includes young and trendy millennial shoppers.

Nordstrom

Nordstrom continues to grow leaps and bounds, already having redesigned stores that make transactions doubly convenient. The growing innovations in the form of strategy, sales and tie ups make Nordstrom set a perfect example for the budding retail fashion startups all over the world.

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Abhishek Shah
ThugStart

Nomad | Early Stage Investor | Wannabe Anthropologist | Technology Evangelist | Curious, Inquisitive & Experimental Entrepreneur