11–20 of 95 posts
So true. People are so focused on 'social' that they are ignoring the real problems.
Not really a well thought out article. Here's why - 1) Why should anyone care about solving the problems that the writer of this article wants to see solved? 2) She fixates on the 3-8% that affiliate sites make without considering a few things: a) Sites make that regardless of where the user actually buys. So if someone comes to your site and decides to buy a jacket you make money whether they buy it from Retailer A…
About the 3-8% affiliate fees, that's not a viable business model. You would have to deliver north of 15M dollars to get 1M dollars. Assuming the average ticket is $150, you need 100,000 conversion. The average internet conversion rate is 3%. So you need 3M uniques. That is not very easy to get. Even if you are buying it.
Not really a well thought out article. Here's why - 1) Why should anyone care about solving the problems that the writer of this article wants to see solved? 2) She fixates on the 3-8% that affiliate sites make without considering a few things: a) Sites make that regardless of where the user actually buys. So if someone comes to your site and decides to buy a jacket you make money whether they buy it from Retailer A…
Yes, fashion is a huge industry in the US, and you can make a ton of money in the market. By just being a middleman, you're looking at margins in the 10% region. Enough to build a business, but not a game-changer. If you target production and supply-chain problems, which are far harder, then you can build a business with margins north of 40%. Not only that, but because you've solved some seriously hard problems, you'…
Not really a well thought out article. Here's why - 1) Why should anyone care about solving the problems that the writer of this article wants to see solved? 2) She fixates on the 3-8% that affiliate sites make without considering a few things: a) Sites make that regardless of where the user actually buys. So if someone comes to your site and decides to buy a jacket you make money whether they buy it from Retailer A…
You may want to give her more credit. She did a fashion startup for a few years. About the 3-8% affiliate fees, that's not a viable business model. You would have to deliver north of 15M dollars to get 1M dollars. Assuming the average ticket is $150, you need 100,000 conversion. The average internet conversion rate is 3%. So you need 3M uniques. That is not very easy to get. Even if you are buying it.
So, I'm going to toot my own horn here, because this article is extremely well timed. (Note: her site is down now, thanks HN! :P) This line of reasoning is exactly why we decided at Everlane to start manufacturing our own apparel. You just don't capture enough of the value if you exist as a pure discovery layer unless you (somehow) get everyone and their uncle visiting you, looking to purchase, i.e., Google. The inte…
"In fashion, trust me, that are MANY problems that need to be solved: a highly antiquated supply chain, non-standard, un-linked computer systems, non-standard sizing that varies even within the same line, inefficient pricing methods." I don't see why internet fashion companies couldn't take a crack at solving / mitigating at least some of these. For example, there are some sites (like zafu.com - no affiliation) that…
To refine what I said: it's not that discoverability is not a problem, it's that all of the new fashion apps (from Lyst to Fashism to Inporia to Svpply to Google Boutiques) seem to have only increased the "noise" versus decrease it. In fashion, customers pay for the edit: a small, curated collection of products that an editor has determined best fits her customer's profile. To argue that we can somehow replace this very right-brained activity with crowdsourcing or algorithms is untenable.
That said, I am shocked about the claim that a single VC has funded an apparel retailer recently. I am in this industry, and I can assure you that it is about as unsexy as one could get from a VC perspective.
I would love to know who all these recently funded apparel businesses are.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You may want to give her more credit. She did a fashion startup for a few years. About the 3-8% affiliate fees, that's not a viable business model. You would have to deliver north of 15M dollars to get 1M dollars. Assuming the average ticket is $150, you need 100,000 conversion. The average internet conversion rate is 3%. So you need 3M uniques. That is not very easy to get. Even if you are buying it.
We got 30-40% on each sale. Not sure it's a US issue - in Europe it's 30%+.