Reimagining the Business of Fashion

By Crystal Albanese, senior manager of conferences and committees at ANA

Operating in a Silicon Valley-style work environment has been one of the key qualities that has helped TechStyle Fashion Group gain success as a disruptor brand in the fashion industry. Parent company to popular brands such as Fabletics, JustFab, and ShoeDazzle, TechStyle has successfully used technology, big data, and customer service to reimagine ecommerce and fashion alike.

With $650 million in annual sales, TechStyle is one of the fastest growing fashion brands ever. CMO Shawn Gold, a featured speaker at the 2017 ANA Brand Masters Conference, shares how the brand has been able to disrupt the fashion industry using big data and how they are consistently improving the shopper experience.

What are the key qualities of a disruptor brand like TechStyle?

We are constantly challenging the status quo and thinking about how we can reimagine a traditional industry. When you break it down, it is really about using technology to create efficiencies in acquiring and servicing customers. Our technology is the basis for a unique platform that we have created to build high-value fashion brands and efficiently distribute them across the globe. We sell our own exclusive labels through a combination of proprietary systems, data-driven fashion design and merchandising, integrated ROI-driven media, and membership commerce.

Talk about the benefits of integrating tech, big data, and personalization into your entire business operation.

The ultimate benefits are two-fold and quite simple — increasing customer satisfaction and hedging risk in the fashion business. They are both interdependent and constantly feed off each other.

On the satisfaction side, it all starts with membership driven commerce. We have over 4 million customers who share their style, color, size and other preferences, and visit us monthly. This helps us gain a deeper understanding of who they are, what they wear, and what is important in the companies they purchase from, so we can design products and experiences they care about.

On the business risk side, traditionally fashion has been a trend-driven business. Bernard Shaw referred to fashion as “an induced epidemic.” Because we have such a close relationship with consumers and are afforded unprecedented insights into consumer preference, we can hedge risk. We know their explicit preferences, what they have previously purchased, reviewed, and even considered.

In what ways has TechStyle improved the shopper experience, and how are you reaching shoppers in store?

Each day we think about how we can use data and personalization to give “her” what she wants. Big data is what drives consumer empathy, and enables our membership program, personalized product recommendations, and a dynamic shopping experience. It allows us to navigate ever-changing fashion trends, media consumption, and shifting tastes. We use it to personalize fashion and improve the shopping experience for millions of members in real time.

In the end, all of this is used to create value-driven brands, which are driven by a combination of quality, price, convenience, customer experience, service, and exclusive design. For us, all of these things together make up the complete shopping experience.