Last week I attended one of those exciting opportunities that always seem to take place in New York City. In this case it was a talk by Alexis Maybank, co-founder of Gilt Groupe in an intimate setting that fostered more of a discussion-friendly environment than say a keynote situation.
Ms. Maybank discussed a little about the founding of Gilt Groupe from idea to execution which, by the way was only a four month period, to current and future digital and mobile initiatives for the discount-based luxury e-commerce platform.
Admittedly, I wasn’t fixed on tedious note taking as I wanted to enjoy the setting and soak up the lessons learned and insights shared. With that said, here is a list of interesting points, smart lessons, and things to think about from the brain of one of Gilt Groupe’s innovative founders:
- When developing your website, you must give people a reason to come back every day.
- Learn to tell a story with your imagery. People have a much stronger respond to images than to text. Usually.
- Styling is key when it comes to website imagery. Editor’s Note: as independent labels, you may not have a big budget for shoots and stylists. But you need to figure out a way to work with people who are maybe new to the industry but still creative and talented and won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
- Always focus on the mindset of your customer. What are they doing and where are they when they make purchases.
- Every product should be pinn-able, tweet-able, like-able, stumble-able, you get the point.
- Never just have a product; merge editorial and commerce.
- Click through always needs to be easy. No more than two clicks to purchase or you’re risking losing them.
- The store is migrating to the pocket. Think mobile from the start.
- It is becoming increasingly difficult to standout among all the noise. You must really know your customer. Remember when it comes to customers, less is more. They tell you ” this is who I am and this is what i stand for”… you just need to listen to them.
- Learn to anticipate what your customer wants before they tell you, and you’re half way there.