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[Music]
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[Music]
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we're meeting today with Donna no who is
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the brand president for White House
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Black Market welcome thanks for joining
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us thank you Steve I'm happy to be here
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tell us about your target market and
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what the brand has done to differentiate
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itself from your competitors well our
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target market is women uh median age
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group of about 45 so we really uh focus
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our efforts around a woman that's at a
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stage in her life where she's very busy
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um primarily working women she's
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probably got one or two kids left home
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but may in fact most of her children may
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be out of the house and on their way to
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college already um and you know we saw a
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niche uh for ourselves back about 5
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years ago when I joined the company that
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really identified an opportunity where
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do women in their mid-40s go to look
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current but not inappropriate for their
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age so we identified uh this little
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sweet spot in the market that we were
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going to go after and being different is
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very much a part of who we are there's a
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famous quote uh that I like to remind my
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team about all the time and it's by Coco
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Chanel one of the most famous designers
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ERS and she said to truly be
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Irreplaceable one must be different so
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if we want to be Irreplaceable as a
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brand uh we try to maintain uniqueness
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and primarily uh we do it through two
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ways one which is the most important
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it's the relationship that we build with
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our customers so we have an incredibly
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high standard of customer service and
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even when the economy was tough back in
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2008 the one thing that we didn't
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sacrifice was our
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Associates and the payroll um of those
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Associates that were going to interact
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with our customers because we felt as
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though if we built relationships at that
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time regardless of whether a customer
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had money to spend she would come back
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when she was ready to spend and she did
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come back and then the second way we
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differentiate ourselves is in our
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product so we have a international
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design team uh in Fort Meers Florida and
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we design all our product uh very
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uniquely to our brand and to our
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boutiques and we try to not only provide
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our customer with very current fashion
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but we also try to provide her with
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Incredible value through the quality and
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the fit and the Fabrics that we use uh
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tell us a little bit about how
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widespread your network is how many
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stores do you have and where most of
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them are located we're actually uh
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located all across uh the continental US
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uh Puerto Rico in the Virgin Islands
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today we have we're operating about 45
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uh what we call our Frontline or our
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full price boutiques we actually refer
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to them as boutiques and we have about
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40 Outlets uh outlet stores that are
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located in outlet centers across the
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country but we are in the midst of a
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very very big growth spurt and we're
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going to open about another 60 stores
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this year how has the customer changed
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since you began working in retail and
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what are some of the key things that
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have stayed the same H I think the I'll
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start with the what has stayed the same
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I think what stayed the same is uh I
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think
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women want to feel special uh regardless
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of whether they're shopping for clothes
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or they're going for a spa treatment and
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I think one of the things has stayed
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very much the same in the 35 years I've
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been doing this is the relationship and
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the importance of the relationship with
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the customer as I mentioned earlier you
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know when someone
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crosses your you as we refer to lease
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line or it comes in the door of one of
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our does you don't know what's going on
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in that person's life that particular
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day um and I think what's important is
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realizing that regardless of whether
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that woman's going to spend money today
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or not is not the important part of that
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relationship the important part of that
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relationship is whether or not she's
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going to remember that interaction that
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you had with her in a very positive way
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and come back and spread the word and I
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don't think that has ever changed in
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retail so building relationships and the
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importance of those relationships
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exactly the same I think what has
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happened is certainly technology has
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opened up you know a
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247 uh world for most consumers and also
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the
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ability uh from the luxury of of their
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own home any time any place to be able
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to evaluate what you do in comparison to
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everyone else and that has changed the
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Dynamics of how we do business
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everything is so immediate today that
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our ability to
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respond uh with even a greater sense of
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urgency has become more and more a
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priority I think for most retailers and
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because she can shop at her Leisure and
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she can shop infinitely um how do you
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stand out amongst all the noise that's
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created not only now when she walks
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through the mall but when you know she's
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sitting at her kitchen table having a
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cup of coffee so you have to be able to
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cut through that and that's where Main
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maintaining the
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uniqueness um and we do it again through
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our product and through our service but
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uh is very very important and carrying
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that across multiple channels so that
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the experience is always the same so
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Chico as a company and Black House White
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Market as a brand are as you mentioned
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primarily us Focus but there's all the
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talk of the global economy um the
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Emerging Markets India China Brazil how
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do they do do they fit into your
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business plan going forward well we are
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exploring opportunities internationally
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we've not decided yet um on what that's
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going to look like but we are in the
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process right now of uh evaluating all
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the opportunities for the brands that
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sit within the entire Chico's portfolio
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White House Black Market you know being
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one of
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four and of course you are you mentioned
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that your design team is international
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so that's Global and I'm assuming that
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you do some sourcing globally and so yes
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all of our actually all of most of uh I
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would say probably 98% of our production
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is uh out of the country and most of it
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is in in as in asian-based countries uh
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and has been for a number of years then
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there's a question of social media and
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providing multi-channel brand
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experiences which has become
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increasingly important as you were
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beginning to talk about uh what do you
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consider some of the key tools to be
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successful in that realm today wow
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multi- Channel you know Omni channel is
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like it's become the buzzword uh of the
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of the uh of the year it seems lately
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you know we've been very successful with
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our social media efforts actually just
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this week um we hit 500,000 fans on our
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Facebook page which we celebrated
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gloriously um because I think when we
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launched our Facebook page about two and
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a half years ago so in in two and a half
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years we've gone from zero to 500,000
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fans which is great um what social media
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allows you to do is it allow it allows
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you to engage with your customer on a
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very consistent basis and it also allows
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you to provide some relevancy into her
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life I'm a huge believer in adding value
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to our customers customers or not really
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doing it so I don't view social media as
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just you know the ability to throw noise
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out to her but I want to ensure that if
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I'm going to impose on her personal time
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and I'm going to engage her that I'm
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adding value back to her um I don't you
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know I don't think social media needs to
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be hard selling um I think that women
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want to feel as though they're part of a
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community part of you know the same
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relevant interests um to be able to
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engage her and that's how we use our
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social media one of the things that we
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do that is highly unusual in the retail
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environment is we allow our customers to
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post on our Facebook page which most
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retailers will only allow you to post if
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post something so you can reply and our
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customers are very very engaged um with
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us because we allow them to share now I
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also use as the president of the brand I
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use social media every day of my life
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because every night I have a reputation
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for this every night before I close my
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eyes I get online and I read through our
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Facebook page and the reason I do that
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is it allows me to stay very much in
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touch with my customer and I think the
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Crux of that Omni channel multi- channel
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experience has to be if your customer is
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your top priority she needs to be your
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top priority in every touch point you
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have with her and that needs to feel
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very seamless so I will jump on Facebook
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and respond to a customer as fast as
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I'll walk up to a customer in a boutique
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and introduce myself um and engage in a
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conversation so I think you have an
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obligation once you go out there uh to
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ensure that you engage your customer the
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same way regardless whether you're
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speaking to her in person or you're
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speaking her speaking to her through a
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different medium so you're collecting a
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lot from the market in in the various
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ways that you do this and you're
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allowing the market to interact with
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itself but and you talked about sort of
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a light touch on your Outreach could you
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give me a couple of examples of how you
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do that that might be different than the
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way other brands handle it well I listen
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to my C first of all I listen to my
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customer I think it's really important
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that um in any industry that you're in
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right you're only as relevant as you
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allow yourself to stay to a consumer but
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I'll give you a very fun example of uh a
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positive outcome this is going back
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probably about two years ago now I was
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online now I log into our Facebook page
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and I see all of these posts coming up
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like 30 of them all from women in
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Billings Montana Billings Montana and I
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start reading through them and the gist
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of it was oh my God we don't have a
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White House Black Market in Billings
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Montana why don't you come to Billings
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Montana so next morning I went to the
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office again on the phone with our head
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of real estate and I said why don't we
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have a store in Billings Montana and I
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said find me a space and sure enough he
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found me a space and uh this past
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September we had the grand opening of
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the store which they were so excited to
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have us I mean it was on television I
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did radio appearances we did a ribbon
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cutting you know key to the city the
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whole nine yards and the women were so
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excited that somebody actually listened
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to them and the power of social media
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right the power of social media being so
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relevant now that's an extreme example
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of it not so extreme example is somebody
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has a bad experience in one of our
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stores you know how far a bad experience
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goes versus a good experience they tell
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us seven people on average or is it 13
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it's some huge number so not only do we
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respond on our Facebook page openly
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because I believe in being very open but
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I personally or my head of store
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operation
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personally will call the
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customer so and when you are not um
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reacting to something that that you see
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on that page as far as actively going
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out what kinds of communications do you
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do in that case well we share um we
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share our excitement about product
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launches we ask them questions about
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preferences we pulled all of our uh f
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Facebook fans about a year ago on if you
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could pick what's your fa you know what
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color haven't we done for you that you'd
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like to see us do and the number one
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resp response was purple and that's what
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we delivered to them in September and
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and they remembered it um did it work it
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did it worked it was fabulous if you
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listen um and we also use the medium for
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special events so we'll have unique
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offerings that we'll put out just for
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our Facebook fans and that has been um
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very successful as well and while it's
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somewhat Revenue generating uh it
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creates the buzz and the excitement and
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it makes them feel special which is what
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all anybody wants right is to feel
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special your company has a very specific
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brand identity it's about this black and
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white clothing I realize you have some
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colors like purple uh but some would see
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that as a limitation for the brand I'm
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thinking you don't think of it that way
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so how do you make it work to your
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advantage um you know it's it's so
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simple right it's the Simplicity of what
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we do and it is you know not about we're
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not just about doing you know black and
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white clothing but what we're about
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doing is helping women learn how to take
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a foundation of wardrobe and build
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around that season after season um you
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know so when we introduce color into the
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brand which only happened about four and
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a half years ago um it had a remarkable
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impact on the rate of growth which you
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can imagine because it does it's
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difficult to do nothing but black and
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white which is what the business did for
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a number of years but the importance of
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maintaining that Foundation is really
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based in the Simplicity of ask any woman
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which is the most hanging in her closet
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it's going to be black and white
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and I think what we do is we leverage
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that you know we we we leverage that
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authority to teach her not just how to
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shop and buy a lot of clothes but how to
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build a real working wardrobe for
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herself what do you see as some of the
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key fashion trends now um popular color
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styles what's happening what's going to
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be happening this year God it's all
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about pants for me it's all about pants
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this year um you know color's been
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explosive uh for the last uh two years
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actually I think to the point where
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women are ready to settle back down uh
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when I was in Europe actually back in
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September uh notably and if uh you know
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anyone that watches catches the runway
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shows which anybody can watch now online
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uh all of the big designers came down
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the runway actually with nothing but
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black and white so I think we're going
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to start to see a migration away from
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the explosion of color and probably more
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of a model that looks like what we do
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which is heavy black and white with an
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accent of color so I think we'll start
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to see movement away from color a little
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bit um definitely seeing a Resurgence in
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the Simplicity of dressing in a dress so
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I think dresses are going to become a
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big part of women's uh staple wardrobes
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again and again as I mentioned to me the
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skinny ankle pant like woohoo bring back
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Audrey heurn uh with a little pair of
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flats and uh I think you're going to see
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a big change in in how women are going
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to start to dress
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again okay uh so older women are trying
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to dress younger these days um what does
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that mean for your brand H you know I
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older women trying to think that you
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know what is it uh you know 40 is the
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new 30 50 is the new 40 um you know age
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is such a state of mind and I think
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what's important is that women dress in
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a way that's number one comfortable for
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them um and number two appropriate from
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the perspective of I don't want to I
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don't want to look like my 27-year-old
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daughter but my 27y old daughter and I
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have a lot of the same clothes hanging
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in our closet it's just how we put it
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together so what we try to do is we try
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to provide current style current fashion
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um in a very appropriate Manner and
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through our great customer service try
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to teach women how to put it together so
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it feels right and is comfortable for
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them for their age group but again the
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advice I always give women about fashion
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is you have to look in the mirror and
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feel comfortable you have to feel
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beautiful um and you have to with great
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confidence be able to walk into a room
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knowing that you feel and look
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appropriate for the occasion so I don't
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get so hung up on the fashion piece as
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much as I get hung up on the you know do
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what's right for you and what we try to
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do is view everything Through The Eyes
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of as I said you know a woman who's in
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her 40s you can be in your in your 20s
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in shop with us or in your 60s in shop
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with us but uh keeping that Focus has
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been a big part of our success and
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hopefully will continue to be how'd you
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choose retail as a career oh it was
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crazy uh I actually went when I started
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college I was a pre vetenary medicine
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major so uh the big joke in my family is
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my mom still tells me I can't believe
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you do this for a living because I
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couldn't even get you to put a dress on
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I was a tomboy and uh it was not ever on
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my radar screen so I didn't grow up
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saying I wanted to be a fashion designer
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I actually cut off all the hair on my
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Barbie dolls and you know it wasn't
00:16:47
wasn't in the cards but uh when I was in
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college and I had to take a uh job
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part-time job I started working for this
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gentleman who owned uh two very small
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local stores and he said to me hey you
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know how would you like to buy for the
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one store and I said I don't know it's
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extra cash sounds good to me and I
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started working with him and he to took
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me into Manhattan taught me how to do it
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and the first I'll never forget the
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first time the the merchandise that I
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picked out for that store came in and it
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sold I thought wow this is incredible
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like this isn't what a rush and I fell
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in love with it I just fell in love with
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with the whole idea
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of being in a business that I could
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predict what a consumer would want and
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then have the exposure of watching how
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it made them feel very very interesting
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Dynamic so different perspective
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probably than most people you would talk
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to in the fashion industry and then I
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left there and I took a job with a
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bigger company and my career just took
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off and I realized because I loved what
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I did I got up every morning with this
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and I still do with this incredible
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passion and this can't wait to get to
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work attitude um that I had fallen into
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what I was intended to do and what I
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love about the industry is it allows me
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to be incredibly
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creative but it also has a very strong
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foundation in business and that part of
00:18:19
balancing this sort of very creative
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side with this strong business Acumen
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and applying those two skills and
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talents together to run business a
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fashion business is incredibly rewarding
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challenging but incredibly
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rewarding and what about your
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experiences from your time in school in
00:18:39
the early years of your career um has
00:18:41
that proved helpful to you in your job
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and how I you know what if I could if I
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could go back to school every year even
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at this age and at this stage of my life
00:18:54
I would because you know education is
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one of the most most
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incredible uh gifts that we get and you
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know I can remember sitting back in
00:19:06
school thinking to myself what am I ever
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going to do with all of this information
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um and as I look back now um that
00:19:15
Foundation whether it was algebraic in
00:19:19
nature um scientific in nature uh
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grammatic and nature all built this
00:19:26
foundation of the successful
00:19:29
professional I've grown into today and
00:19:34
um I have throughout the years
00:19:36
periodically gone back uh you know this
00:19:39
week at Wharton has been an amazing
00:19:41
experience and you know I I you know
00:19:44
people said to me when I was coming
00:19:45
you're going for a week on a finance
00:19:47
course you you're the president of the
00:19:48
company you have you have people that
00:19:49
can do this for you and I said you know
00:19:51
what you can never learn enough you can
00:19:53
never and and sitting there this week by
00:19:55
the end of the week and that practical
00:19:57
application of all of this knowledge I
00:19:58
gained will make me so much stronger and
00:20:01
prepare me for things in the future um
00:20:05
that otherwise it wouldn't have been
00:20:06
prepared for so even though when I look
00:20:08
back through the years at certain points
00:20:10
in time I couldn't understand how I was
00:20:13
going to apply that knowledge to that
00:20:15
moment in time what I've come to realize
00:20:17
is I've matured it's not about that
00:20:18
moment in time it's about what It
00:20:20
prepares you for in the future and
00:20:23
that's how I look back on my continued
00:20:26
education because every day when I go to
00:20:27
work I learn something new but um one of
00:20:31
the smart things I've done I think
00:20:32
through my entire career is at junctures
00:20:35
have allowed myself to go back and put
00:20:39
myself in a you know a learning
00:20:41
institution not always uh traditional um
00:20:45
school or classroom environment to
00:20:48
improve myself both personally and
00:20:50
professionally so I've been able to
00:20:53
mature on so many different levels and I
00:20:55
think that's what education does for you
00:20:57
it gives you maturity at different
00:20:59
stages in your life um some of it you
00:21:03
use immediately and some of it are
00:21:04
things you carry with you for a number
00:21:06
of years before you realize you tap back
00:21:07
into it
00:21:11
[Music]
