Building a Fashion Company on the Internet? Stop. Just stop. • Hacker News Board

Re: Building a Fashion Company on the Internet? Stop. Just stop.

#91

Post by astrofinch » Sun, Sep 18, 2011, 10:40 PM UTC

jfarmer wrote: post #61

astrofinch wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean one to acquire customers and one to do customer fulfillment. And customer fulfillment is useless if you don't have any customers. This seems obvious.

No, I meant what I said. Why spend time and energy building a huge consumer success if your goal is to sell things? Name some successful online commerce companies that started that way. Most (I won't say all) started as pure commerce, e.g., Gilt. If you're ShoeDazzle selling shoes for $40/month, your customer acquisition problem is fundamentally different than a site like Svpply. If you want to sell things, sell thin…

Could you provide support for your assertion that the customer acquisition problem is fundamentally different?

Re: Building a Fashion Company on the Internet? Stop. Just stop.

#92

Post by jfarmer » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 2:45 AM UTC

astrofinch wrote: post #91

jfarmer wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I meant what I said. Why spend time and energy building a huge consumer success if your goal is to sell things? Name some successful online commerce companies that started that way. Most (I won't say all) started as pure commerce, e.g., Gilt. If you're ShoeDazzle selling shoes for $40/month, your customer acquisition problem is fundamentally different than a site like Svpply. If you want to sell things, sell thin…

Could you provide support for your assertion that the customer acquisition problem is fundamentally different?

1. ShoeDazzle can afford to pay for customers

2. ShoeDazzle needs far fewer customers to generate significant revenue

3. ShoeDazzle's value proposition is much clearer -- either you want shoes to buy Kim Kardashian shoes, or you don't

4. Users join a site like Svpply vs. a site like ShoeDazzle for very different reasons.

There's just so much evidence that you can build a successful online retail presence without going through the first stage that it honestly seems stupid to me.

Warby Parker, Bonobos, Gilt, One King's Lane, Jack Threads, BeachMint, ShoeDazzle, BirchBox, Rent the Runway, etc., etc., etc. just opened a f(*&ing store.

Re: Building a Fashion Company on the Internet? Stop. Just stop.

#93

Post by astrofinch » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 6:11 AM UTC

jfarmer wrote: post #92

astrofinch wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you provide support for your assertion that the customer acquisition problem is fundamentally different?

1. ShoeDazzle can afford to pay for customers 2. ShoeDazzle needs far fewer customers to generate significant revenue 3. ShoeDazzle's value proposition is much clearer -- either you want shoes to buy Kim Kardashian shoes, or you don't 4. Users join a site like Svpply vs. a site like ShoeDazzle for very different reasons. There's just so much evidence that you can build a successful online retail presence without goin…

Thanks!

Re: Building a Fashion Company on the Internet? Stop. Just stop.

#94

Post by encoderer » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 9:01 AM UTC

jfarmer wrote: post #84

div wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a strong algorithm may surprise you. I remember reading about the Netflix contest and how one of the algorithms categorizes movies into it's own statistically relevant categories*. Once a comparative algorithm is used and the dataset gets large enough, I have no doubt the recommendations will start to get real good real fast. http://devlicio.us/blogs/billy_mccafferty/archive/2007/01/02...

What I'm trying to say is this: it's not about a "match" between the product and the potential consumer. The who, what, and how of the recommendation matter almost as much as the product itself. Just the fact that I know this recommendation came from a human counts for something, especially if it's a human I trust or respect when it comes to fashion (not necessarily a friend). e.g., a celebrity wearing a shirt and ha…

In the context of my most previous reply above -- how would you feel about reccomendation algorithms that pull more visibly from your own social graph -- Friends, yes, but also people you follow on Twitter and Like on facebook.

That seems almost a perfect marriage of my comments on the innate human quality behind a nearest-neighbor algorithm your comments here.

Re: Building a Fashion Company on the Internet? Stop. Just stop.

#95

Post by prof_hobart » Mon, Sep 19, 2011, 1:00 PM UTC

jfarmer wrote: post #64

prof_hobart wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing it's because you're likely not their target audience. A lot of people are more than happy to let whoever asks have permission to spam their Facebook feed with free advertising.

We don't spam anyone's Facebook feed, for the record. We will post something if and only if you click "post to Facebook."

Why don't you wait until the first time that they user wants to post something before asking for Facebook details. I'm sure you are completely honest, and wouldn't abuse the permissions you've been granted. But I don't like giving out any more personal details (phone #/email address/Facebook profile) than I absolutely have to.

But then I guess I'm not really your target audience either.