Editorial image from Tamara Mellon featuring Dree Hemingway
Apparel and accessories label Tamara Mellon is taking control of its consumers’ shopping experience with a redesigned Web site that mixes content and commerce.
Since its launch in November 2013, Tamara Mellon was sold exclusively at Net-A-Porter and department stores including Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. Operating a direct selling channel to consumers gives brands more knowledge of their consumer and allows them to shape the interaction the consumer has with the brand when shopping.
“I feel that technology has changed the way people shop and believe that ecommerce is going to be the foundation of our business, because it provides us the opportunity to speak directly to our customer,” said Glenn McMahon, president/CEO of Tamara Mellon.
Content meets commerce
Tamara Mellon, former chief creative officer and cofounder of Jimmy Choo, previously expanded the digital footprint of her namesake apparel and accessory line by partnering exclusively with online retailer Net-A-Porter.
Tamara Mellon was made available to international Net-A-Porter consumers on Dec. 4. The move to ecommerce is part of a grander strategy to increase awareness for the newly launched brand that includes a digital flagship Web site and partnerships with select retailers such as Harrods, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus (see story).
This will be the first time, either online or in-store, that the brand is operating a direct sales channel.
Tamara Mellon Web site homepage
Tamara Mellon timed the launch of the Web site to coincide with the release of its March/April Monthly Fashion Concepts, which includes an editorial photo spread with actress Dree Hemingway. The photos show Ms. Hemingway in scenarios inspired by 1970s paparazzi images.
The label’s namesake founder worked as an editor at Vogue, and said in a brand statement that she likes that this gives her the opportunity to use the skills she learned at the fashion magazine. Each shoot is going to focus on a new fashion concept.
“As long as the content doesn’t hinder the user’s ability to find the products and actual ecommerce features, I don’t believe there can be too much content,” said Brittany Mills, vice president of client solutions at Nervewire Inc., New York.
“It might not all be viewed by a user, but again that will help you to understand what is working on your site versus not working,” she said. “The more content the more opportunities to optimize for higher traffic.”
Editorial content also reflects the label’s “buy now, wear now” philosophy. Instead of the usual seasonal collections that enter stores far before the weather catches up, Tamara Mellon focuses on seasonless fashion as well as monthly capsules that are timed so that consumers can use the apparel right away.
Tamara Mellon’s new Web site features the ecommerce prominently, with a new navigation pane on the left side of the homepage with the categories “new arrivals,” “ready to wear,” “shoes,” “handbags,” “endless” and “legging boots.”
Below these categories are links to the brand’s lookbooks, a store locator and the “From Tamara” section dedicated to content.
To the right of the navigation options is a large slideshow of the images of Ms. Hemingway wearing the current collection, with a button overlay with the call to action “shop new arrivals.”
Many items are online exclusives, so consumers have to go through the brand channel to purchase them. This makes sense especially when a brand has created a new shopping site which consumers are unfamiliar with as a way to get them acquainted.
Some items are also available for preorder, giving consumers the feeling of being special and in the loop.
Included in the product pages are links to shop merchandise based on the editorial photo shown.
Tamara Mellon Web site
For instance, next to an image of Ms. Hemingway in a neon dress and zebra pumps, is copy telling consumers to “go bold,” with a link to shop the look. When the consumer clicks on the link, they can look at the product details without navigating away from the page and add merchandise to their cart.
The brand’s previous Web site design had a single column with a large image at top. As the consumer scrolled, they could read about the brand, look at posts from Tamara Mellon’s Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, view a list of stores, flip through a look book and find contacts.
Now the Web site is more link-enabled, rather than operating on the scroll function. The social media content that was previously included on the homepage is included in the “From Tamara” section, as well as in the “About” page linked in the navigation options at the bottom of the homepage.
Tamara Mellon “From Tamara” Web page
To increase traffic to the newly shoppable Web site, Tamara Mellon sent an email to its newsletter subscribers, who are the brand fans that would want to be the first to know.
Tamara Mellon email blast
Editorial direction
Tamara Mellon built awareness among fashion-forward consumers with its first video campaign.
The video titled “High Heels & Sharp Knives” was directed by Danish director Rie Rasmussen and stars model Karlie Kloss as a knife-wielding vixen. Although heavily promoted on social media, consumers must go to the Tamara Mellon Web site to view the video, which will gain exposure for the brand’s nascent collections (see story).
Other brands have created their own ecommerce options to sell directly to consumers, and a number of brands, including Tom Ford, have ecommerce Web sites launching soon.
French fashion house Givenchy released a new iOS mobile application dedicated entirely to its menswear line to push mobile commerce to its fashion-forward male consumers.
The app features a similar layout to the brand’s women’s wear app released in the fall and, like the women’s app, was produced in partnership with online retailer Net-A-Porter. Since Givenchy does not have its own ecommerce Web site, this app is a way for the brand to control the online shopping experience of male consumers who are not located near a Givenchy bricks-and-mortar store (see story).
Like Tamara Mellon, Givenchy was first available on third-party ecommerce sites such as Net-A-Porter, which gave the brand information about its consumers’ online shopping needs before it launched its own ecommerce option.
“Launching with another vendor before launching your own ecommerce site allows a brand to test products, establish a customer base and leverage the name and established database that has been built by that vendor,” Ms. Mills said. ”User behavior can also be gathered to help understand what the experience should be on your own site.
“When you manage your own ecommerce site, you can easily manage the content, product imagery, sales, et cetera, that creates a better shopping experience for your customers,” she said.
“I would also recommend setting up conversation tracking so you can better understand your customers and the pathways they take on your site. A brand can get insight to better enhance the site.”
Final Take
Sarah Jones, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York