Lingerie is not always an easy thing to purchase. The size ranges are limited, the prices are high and the selection is often not very diverse.
Ironically enough, shopping for lingerie of any kind can be a decidedly unsexy experience.
Lingerie is a Valentine’s Day type of purchase, and, as Adore Me’s Vice President of Customer Engagement Nicolas Capuono explained, it’s a purchase experience his firm is deeply dedicated to fixing.
With notable intimates retailers launching three to four collections a year, offering expensive designs, and making it impossible for women over a size 10 to shop for a bra outside a specialty store, Adore Me is changing the rules of the game,” Capuono explained to Loyalty 360.”
The Adore Me executive noted the traditional shopping experience on offer to women is not only depressing, it’s out of step with the times. What used to be traditional for all apparel retail — three to four seasonally linked collections per year — has since fallen far out of fashion. The reason for that, Capuono explained, is because of competition. Brands like Zara and H&M have completely changed the timing of the fashion cycle by putting out more clothes, more often and then pricing them down so consumers have a reason to always be buying — which was a model Adore Me could get behind.
“Adore Me is designing fast-fashion intimates, launching a new collection of 40-60 designs every single month. Some have dubbed us the Zara of lingerie, offering radical prices of $39.95 for a set of bra and panties — less than half the price of our competitors,” Capuono said.
Which is significantly less to spend per item, he noted, but also provides a lot more range, as Adore Me can put anyone in a bra — from a 30A to a 46I — and just about anything and everything in between to capture the customers that “Victoria’s Secret leaves behind.”
Founded by a Harvard MBA student, Morgan Hermand-Waiche, Adore Me began not as a business idea, but as a gift for his girlfriend. A gift that turned out to be much, much more expensive and complex than its buyer had banked on, which made him curious. After some research, Hermand-Waiche realized lingerie-purchasing wasn’t just his problem.
“[When the company was founded], the lingerie industry was a $24 billion market, monopolized by one player with 40 to 60 percent market share, leading prices up, quality down and neglecting many customers along the way,” Hermand-Waiche explained.
Adore Me is dedicated to being attentive to their customers and also anticipating their needs, which has pushed the fashion brand into developing a tech shop to compete. Capuono noted nearly half of Adore Me’s team is devoted to the user experience (UX) and IT.
That dedication has pushed the brand to expand its tech reach, Capuono said. Adore Me was one of the first companies to use Google’s angular technology on its website and within its mobile app.
The firm also leverages artificial intelligence (AI) technology to automate its customer marketing efforts.
“This makes it easy to segment and target customers based on any type of attributes, which enables us to be hyper-personalized in our customer messaging. The innovation is groundbreaking in customer experience within the world of eCommerce,” Capuono said. “It will allow all customers to chat directly with the company through the Facebook chat on adoreme.com. Moreover, following the disruptive and innovative DNA of Adore Me, the company recently implemented a hybrid bot on its website. The hybrid bot enables Adore Me customers to receive live support via messaging platforms.”
And, of course, Adore Me remains dedicated to bringing sexy back — for anyone who’s ready to invest in it. With the upcoming holiday, Adore Me’s latest collection is already available.
The 90-piece Valentine’s Day collection is the brand’s largest one-off release in its history. As always, it’s priced to please and sized to fit anyone.
Valentine’s Day, Capuono said, is all about love. And for Adore Me’s customers, that love should start with what they’re wearing.
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