http://www.trunkclub.com/ is a great idea. They are not paying me for this. I just think it’s a great case study on how to solve multiple business problems at once.
Problem:
1) Hassle: Men hate to shop but want to look good. Psychologically, it’s uncomfortable for men to shop, even at retail stores with a dedicated salesperson/stylist. On a macro level it would seem that more men’s clothes could be sold if some of these hurdles were removed in the buying process.
2) Even the web is far from perfect: The web solves some of the problems, but adds others. Typically web stores lack personal knowledgeable service – you can’t really see what the merchandise looks like in person and colors can be off. It’s also difficult to assess the different fit of various brands and styles. Returns can be a hassle.
3) Business challenges: Businesses have to support the web sales channel which means maintaining a state of the art web store with photos, merchandising, pricing, promotions, SEO, SEM, PPC and centralized inventory systems. This means more employees and more overhead. Selling branded merchandise on the web often means you have to get more competitive and therefore lower your profit margins. The brick-and-mortar retailers have sales every other week, plus it’s easy to check a brand name product and style to see if it’s cheaper at some other web retailer. Businesses know they can sell more if they get the customer face to face.
Solution: Remove the hassle, provide service, make it fun, keep your margins, and it appears they don’t even have to have the huge expense of running a traditional web site. Here is how Trunk Club works:
You register and provide your Name, Email, Phone, store you typically shop in, brands you like, your job, measurements like waist, neck, weight, height etc. and you get a call.
They send you a box, you try on the stuff with the consultant over skype so they can see the fit and change your profile if necessary in their systems and replace items you like with new sizes. No one is watching, you feel more comfortable, and the personal interaction should increase retention as the person won’t return everything. A sales consultant in the process can make the buyer more likely to keep a bigger percentage of the merchandise.
A note about Skype. Skype can enhance the web sales relationship, especially where tangible goods are involved. Check out Skype’s case study on ePromos Promotional Products featuring your’s truly.
Here’s the ABC Nightline Segment on Trunk Club. Thank Hulu for the pre-commercial:
Trunk Club is a brilliant solution, solving multiple problems at one time. Their use of Skype for Business shows how companies can further enhance communication and improve the customer experience while improving their bottom line. Nice work Trunk Club, good luck to you.
