The Way Of Business: Popularity Does Not Mean That We Must Be Prudent Forever. We Can Not Redefine The Brand Because Of The Prevailing Fashion.

No one had heard of Scotland's accessories brand Strathberry until December 2017, when Megan Markle (Meghan Markle) exploded the Internet with a Strathberry handbag.

After booking a marriage with Prince Harry, Kerr opened a Strathberry set for the first time in public. This "unofficial endorsement" from the British royal family has brought a huge amount of voice to the brand created by the husband and wife Leeanne Hundleby and Guy Hundleby in 2013. "Horse Kerr" sold out in a few minutes, and the waiting list was full of 1000 in 24 hours. Brand sales increased by 200% to 300%, and brand official network traffic increased 10 times compared with the previous day. In the next few months, Kerr also took two other bags out of the street, all of which produced similar effects.

"People immediately have great interest in brands, and brand awareness has been greatly improved," Hundleby said. "This gives us a particularly good opportunity to use people's interest in brands to drive growth."

Such a hot moment can instantly promote the mainstream consumer's vision with an unknown brand. For a small company like Strathberry, the marketing surprise brought by Kerr can create the promise that the advertising budget can promise. But as the life cycle of social media has been shortened to several hours, the attention span of consumers has also been shortened, and the similar high gloss moments are fleeting. The disappearing speed of popular brands or hot brands on social media is almost as fast as that of publishing.

"You need to be careful at the same time and maximize people's interest - and try to maintain this interest later," Hundleby said.

Before Kerr succeeded in bringing goods, Strathberry was still a company worth 3 million. In the past three years, its sales increased by 400%, and its revenue reached 12 million pounds in the fiscal year ended April 2019.

But compared to the luxury brand neighbours of Mount Street in London's upper class community, Strathberry's current size is dwarfed by Phil's. Last summer, Strathberry opened a brand flagship store on this street, and ambitious plans are still in the pipeline. Strathberry also opened a store in Burlington Arcade near Burlington, and plans to open another third store later this year. Demand from the Chinese market has also soars, and Rui o shopping center in Shanghai has opened its brand for 6 months.

Then, how should the brand transform the unexpected "highlights" into long-term growth?

Thinking, one step ahead

Your product or series will be widely and rapidly spread, which will certainly be exciting and messy. But instead of falling into madness, it's better to make strategies for the next step.

The joint cooperation of sunglasses brand Le Specs and Adam Selman has also seen a great deal on Instagram. At that time, Gigi Hadid, Rihanna (Rihanna) and other celebrities wore the brand Last Lolita ("last Lolita") cat's eye glasses. The brand, Australia's Sunshades, restarted the brand in 2006, while Colette in Paris and retailers such as Searl and Selfridge Selfridges in London are also selling the brand. But creative director Hamish Tame said its joint efforts with Adam Selman attracted public attention, which helped to "energetically recharge" brand businesses.

Tame said that after that he began to think about how to move forward quickly around Le Specs. Before long, Le Specs began to enter the field of optical frames, and this year's joint venture with Christian Cowan is expected to be on sale in March. Le Specs said the company is expected to achieve sales of 100 million Australian dollars in the next few years.

"I always think, if there's a meeting we have to attend, what topic will we talk about?" Tame said. "No one wants to talk about the same thing over and over again. How can you get something exciting every time?"

Become the "first choice" in people's minds.

Former J.Crew jewelry designer Lele Sadoughi will say that becoming a star in a certain category is a good way to attract customers to come back. She founded the same name drama jewelry brand in 2012, and launched a series of hair bands in 2018. Very soon, these colourful and ornamental jewellery styles have been all over the Instagram, interspersed between the famous net red hair of Rocky Barnes and Danielle Bernstein, while Barnes has 1 million 800 thousand fans, and Danielle Bernstein has 2 million 200 thousand fans.

"You must strive to become the destination that people want to visit," Sadoughi said. "The most important thing is to occupy a whole category and concentrate on this category. Don't start planning later. "

Sadoughi offers a wide range of choices for fans, including hundreds of colors and styles, from velvet hair to the top band and brand logo. She keeps a balance between a wide range of species and a limited number of styles to avoid overexposure. In 2019, she sold more than 150 thousand hair bands, and the overall business grew by 5 times.

Do not drift with the tide.

The advice of Marisa Hordern, founder of Missoma, is not to get too obsessed with market trends.

"We will not strive to catch up with the trend," she said. "What we are trying to do is what we are really good at."

According to Sunday's The Sunday Times, Britain's fastest growing private sector "Fast Track 100 strong" list, Missoma's annual sales in the past three years increased by 166%. The brand said it expects sales to grow by 60% to 70% this year, more than 18 million pounds.

Not afraid of Say No

Brand is not hard to think of "strike while the iron is hot", sell as much as possible when the product is special, and quickly turn it into sales. But the proliferation of products will damage the brand's long-term image.

Le Specs's Tame said that the popularity of the "last Lolita" frame made it difficult for them to communicate with retailers because they wanted to manage retailers' expectations for wholesale orders: "we must support ourselves and stick to our own practices and avoid being overworked."

The brand must be cautious and cannot be redefined because of the prevailing fashion. After the "mark time", Strathberry was drowned by requests from magazines, radio and TV media, but Hundleby was very cautious about choosing partners, and declined many requests for cooperation.

"When the whole thing is already more and more distant from our brand, we are not very interested in cooperation," Guy Hundleby said. He also adds that they also want to respect the well-known customer.

Investment in infrastructure to promote growth

When enterprises enter the rapid development track, they often consider increasing the number of employees. But in today's e-commerce driven brand world, enterprise investment in technology is equally important. To ensure that the official website of the brand can be browsed in different countries and ensure the safety of users to the greatest extent, it is the right way to open the website.

"As an Internet original brand, the official website is not only a showroom, but also a sales point," said Hordern of Missoma. "The quality of our business depends on the customer's shopping journey. This needs to be combined with the right content, and you need to show the product in a consistent way.

These infrastructures may be expensive. But making good use of a high gloss moment can create more capital and promote the next stage of growth. For example, Strathberry has chosen to work closely with their suppliers in Spain to ensure that production is complacently produced according to the compact production plan, and that the inventory of popular funds is quickly replenish, and additional income is reinvested.

Popular is not permanent.

Success is no accident. Some brands have seen the long-term commercial interests behind the "explosion", and have been working quietly behind the scenes for a long time.

In 2015, Missoma quickly became a popular brand of Instagram, and Lucy Williams became a brand fan. In the same year, Williams began working with the brand to design one of its product lines, and the cooperation between the two sides is still continuing. Soon, these products appeared in Kaia Gerber, Bella Hadid and more famous fashion icon.

Word of mouth exploded around the brand is also in line with the brand's subsequent business strategy shift: Missoma then stopped most of its wholesale customers' cooperation, focusing on selling online to consumers, lowering the price point, and making most of the products retail price less than 150. "It looks like a flash in the air, actually a result of years of hard work," Hordern said.

Sadoughi also believes that the hot debate and attention aroused by social media is just one of the many factors that have brought about the best selling. These factors turn the business into the current upward trajectory.

At the beginning of her business, she launched a $40 entry style, which is much lower than the style of inlaid jewelry (more than $100). She also spends a lot of time perfecting products, ensuring that the products are high quality and comfortable, and begins to spend more on marketing.

"I didn't suddenly come out and make a hair band, and then I could be widely spread," she said. "I've been working hard for a while.