{"id":28231,"date":"2016-06-01T13:00:41","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T17:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=28231"},"modified":"2021-04-23T17:07:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T21:07:12","slug":"melissa-austria-building-retail-store-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/melissa-austria-building-retail-store-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Melissa Austria is Building the Retail Store of the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melissa Austria may have a small menswear business, but she has big plans. <\/span><\/p>\n

The founder of <\/span>Gotstyle<\/span><\/a> aims to create \u201cthe retail store of the future\u201d by marrying the old-school high-touch \u201cexperience\u201d she has <\/span>cultivated<\/span><\/a> at her two Toronto stores with the newfangled personalization and convenience that digital technologies offer. That combination, she believes, will put Gotstyle on a surer footing in a retail industry that\u2019s under duress and, ultimately, help it grow much larger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gotstyle\u2019s stores are designed to provide the modern gentleman with everything he needs to look good — clothes, shoes, even a haircut — from a Monday board meeting to Saturday night out, Austria says. But these days, in addition to designing displays and selecting clothing cuts and colors, she\u2019s is picking out hot new technologies to make shopping even quicker and more enjoyable for men who may not care to shop but want to dress well. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt really boils down to, not technology for the sake of technology, but technology based on making men\u2019s lives easier,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

When it Pays to be Small <\/b><\/p>\n

To get there, Austria is negotiating with an array of tech companies that are eager to test and showcase their inventions on sales floors — and she\u2019s happy to test the right products, if that means she gets in on the ground floor at rock-bottom prices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Austria\u2019s bold can-do attitude seems to reflect the same energy, competitiveness and precision that once made this \u201cbest dressed\u201d daughter of Filipino immigrants a member of a nationally decorated Canadian cheerleading squad. Singularly focused, driven and, of course, stylishly dressed, Austria regularly walks her shop floors tweaking the smallest details, from the folds of dress socks to cufflink displays to perfect rows of collared shirts.<\/span><\/p>\n

She asserts that small, nimble players like Gotstyle, which launched in 2005 and today has 20 employees and about $5.5M Canadian in annual sales, have an important advantage when it comes to modernizing retail because they\u2019re willing to experiment and pivot quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOther companies might have more money, might be bigger. That actually is a hindrance, because they can\u2019t implement change fast enough in their stores,\u201d she says, explaining that big chains\u2019 slow bureaucracies are loath to undertake the large capital investments needed to remake hundreds of stores. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, when somebody says \u2018we want to come in and build you a new mobile app,\u2019 we say: \u2018Sure, let\u2019s go.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Gotstyle rolled out a mobile app developed by <\/span>Lucova<\/span><\/a> a year and a half ago, which has been downloaded by more than 2,000 customers, that lets them pay wirelessly via Bluetooth (akin to Apple Pay) and collect loyalty points automatically. It will track purchases and use these data to build customer profiles including details like clothing sizes and product preferences. (Today, customers can tap images of outfits they like to help Gotstyle build that profile.) <\/span><\/p>\n

In that spirit, Gotstyle plans to let customers who shop on its website select items and then make an appointment to try them on at a store, where they will be ready and waiting in a fitting room. It is also testing 2-hour deliveries of online purchases to local customers. \u201cIt\u2019s the Uber-ization of shopping,\u201d Austria says.<\/span><\/p>\n

More futuristic, Austria plans to use data she collects from dedicated customers to help them decide what to wear each day. \u201cIf you\u2019re a busy executive, you don\u2019t have time to worry about putting your wardrobe together in the morning,\u201d she says. \u201cWe know what you have in your closet based on what you\u2019ve bought. We can put outfits together for you and send it to you every day… based on what your appointment schedule is like.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Going Digital to Survive and Thrive<\/b><\/p>\n

Embracing technology is serious business for Austria. It is about \u201csurviving,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause if we don\u2019t change we\u2019re going to be dead in 10 years.\u201d She points out that many major retailers posted especially disappointing earnings reports recently, as they struggle to adapt to two seismic trends now rattling the industry: online shopping and \u201cfast fashion.\u201d She says traditional retailers are burdened with too much inventory — which they have to buy 6 months in advance based on guesses of what will sell — and that many are closing stores.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this difficult environment, \u201cthe ones that are going to do well are the ones who are going to be able to adapt,\u201d she says. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That means harnessing technologies and customer data for more effective merchandising, sales and marketing. Austria is beginning to use data to make better and quicker decisions about what products to carry and how to display them. And she empowers salespeople to serve customers better, for instance, by enabling them to greet by name customers who use the Gotstyle app when they walk in the store. (In the future, salespeople will get cheatsheets with his sizes and preferences based on past purchases.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Austria is already using data analytics from <\/span>Turnstyle<\/span><\/a> to guide targeted email campaigns. Gotstyle recently sent personalized messages to customers who had spent at least $2,000 in the past, but had not bought anything in 6 months, to woo them back with a discount offer. Around 30 guys came in over two weeks and spent $30,000, she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

To realize her grander vision, Austria is developing an initial version of a future-store concept that Gotstyle can pilot in planned new stores — a concept that includes \u201csmart mirrors,\u201d digital signage and price tags, and new technologies and data applications yet to emerge. \u00a0Once she has a strong working template, she aims to expand to other Canadian and U.S. cities, likely via a franchise model.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s looking for investors now to help her breathe life into that big plan: to create stores with \u201cthe best of online and the best of offline together in one experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\r\n
\r\n\t\tRead Full Transcript<\/i><\/span><\/a>\r\n\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t

Melissa Austria \u2013 Founder \u2013 Gotstyle<\/p>\n

Melissa Austria (MA): Women are really funny. When, when we go shopping we\u2019re like, You know, don\u2019t talk to me. Men wanna be talked to.<\/p>\n

SOT: I mean, it looks good with everything, this color. It even looks good with what you\u2019re wearing right now.<\/p>\n

-Perfect yeah it looks
\nMA: Men come with a, a goal in mind. They need something, \u201cI have an outfit, I have an event, I need this.\u201d They want that more communication compared to women.
\nMA SOT: Oh, looks nice. Yeah, much better with the brown shoes.
\n-Yeah
\n-Yup
\nMA: If you take care of a guy, he will be your customer for life.<\/p>\n

CARD: Melissa Austria \u2013 Founder, Gotstyle \u2013 Toronto, Canada<\/p>\n

MA: Gotstyle is a lifestyle store for men. Guys want one place where they can buy \/ their weekend wear, their hangout clothes, their going out clothes, their suits, get their shoes, their accessories, and get their hair done.<\/p>\n

SOT: You\u2019re shaggy today
\n-Big time, big time<\/p>\n

MA: Once you\u2019re coming to Gotstyle you\u2019re not going any place else.<\/p>\n

CARD: Melissa loved fashion from an early age.<\/p>\n

MA: I couldn\u2019t really draw or sew but when I was growing up I would cut out Vogue magazines and put that all over my wall. And, in fact, when I was in high school I uh got voted \u201cbest dressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

CARD: After high school, Melissa began studying at the Academy of Merchandising and Design in Toronto.<\/p>\n

MA: I was there for about a year and a half and then after being almost like, you know, $15,000 in debt I\u2019m thinking, \u201cI need to get a job.\u201d So that\u2019s when I started working on the uh retail side and I was lucky enough to quite early on start working at Harry Rosen.<\/p>\n

CARD: Harry Rosen is Canada\u2019s preeminent menswear store.<\/p>\n

MA: Harry Rosen is really good in the sense that you can\u2019t start selling the suits right away. They start giving you a very rigorous training to start selling tailored clothing \u2019cause they really wanna make sure that you know what you\u2019re doing before you\u2019re selling a $2,000 suit to somebody.<\/p>\n

CARD: Melissa went on to become a brand manager for iconic designers like Calvin Klein, Valentino and Armani.<\/p>\n

MA: When I was 32 I\u2019ve, you know, been in the wholesale industry for a good, you know, ten, 12 years doing a lot of traveling. And it\u2019s definitely glamorous but after a while it\u2019s not. And especially after 9\/11, um traveling wasn\u2019t fun anymore.<\/p>\n

CARD: In 2004 Melissa teamed up with a business partner, secured a bank loan and poured her savings into starting Gotstyle.<\/p>\n

MA: We\u2019re going after what I like to call the every day guy. So he\u2019s the guy that you know, doesn\u2019t care about the labels or the brands but still wants to dress, dress well.<\/p>\n

CARD: Before the Gotstyle store even opened, Melissa had a huge stroke of marketing luck.<\/p>\n

MA: Home and Garden TV started to do uh, a feature on us called Opening Soon By Design. They pretty much followed us for about six months prior to opening, so all the headaches, all the trials and tribulations.<\/p>\n

SOT: Let\u2019s just make a few calls<\/p>\n

MA SOT: Yeah
\n- The stuff didn\u2019t quite get delivered on time so you could say<\/p>\n

MA: I think they probably played that almost every single week for probably six months to a year.<\/p>\n

SOT: Unbelievable<\/p>\n

MA SOT: I just dropped my glasses in my drink<\/p>\n

MA: Having that visibility and that branding really, really helped get the store, you know, on the map.<\/p>\n

CARD: While the store was doing well, Melissa and her business partner were not.<\/p>\n

MA: We\u2019re you know, yelling and screaming in the store, which is, you know, obviously not good for the staff and not good for the customers.<\/p>\n

CARD: Eventually, Melissa hired a lawyer who helped her buy out her partner.<\/p>\n

MA: Having that stress, and you internalize it and it comes out physically so, I had shingles on my face. My hair was coming out in like huge clumps. At the same time if I didn\u2019t go through that heartache it wouldn\u2019t make me who I am today. So now I find that nothing fazes me. Nothing\u2019s an issue. Nothing\u2019s a big deal.<\/p>\n

CARD: In 2006 Melissa started the Gotstyle private label, all made in Canada.<\/p>\n

MA: Even though there\u2019s a lot of great product out there, we still find that we\u2019re missing specific things for our guys. We have a lot of guys that are bigger with long arms and we couldn\u2019t find a shirt that would fit them properly so we developed our own Gotstyle shirt. And same with a lot of our suits and our jackets. Again, we\u2019re Canada. We got a lot of big boys.<\/p>\n

CARD: GotStyle now has two shops, 20 employees and sales of $5.5 million Canadian.
\nCARD: Melissa is planning to expand beyond Toronto.
\nCARD: She is carefully integrating technology into her stores.<\/p>\n

MA SOT: We have pretty much all the samples<\/p>\n

MA: We do have the mobile app so it\u2019s a mobile pay and loyalty points, and it also allows us when you come into the store you pop up on our iPad, \u201cNow, hey, Steve\u2019s in the store,\u201d so we can greet them by name.<\/p>\n

MA SOT: So just have like all the shirts here, pants, and then put all the sport coats<\/p>\n

MA: As we\u2019re getting more technology driven we\u2019re getting more distant from each other. But we still want that recognition, we still wanna be made to feel special so it\u2019s sorta about having the two of them together to offer something different and that\u2019s the approach that we\u2019re gonna use to, to grow going forward.<\/p>\n<\/p>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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