speaker-1: I would say in person is becoming more important again and we’ve been seeing that over the past couple years. We did a a handful of pop-ups last year that really kind of re-solidified for us that in person experience is extremely important.

speaker-0: Honesty Commerce is a weekly podcast where we interview direct-to-consumer brand founders and leaders to find out what it takes to start, grow, and scale an online business today. Honesty Commerce is proudly produced by Electric Eye, a Shopify Plus partner helping e-commerce brands sell more with strategic design and development. Visit electriqueye.io for more information. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Honest Ecommerce. Today I’m welcome to the show Amy Dudum. She is the co-founder and chief merchandising and marketing officer at Vici Collection. Amy, welcome to the show. I’m excited to chat. So for those that are unaware, what are the types of products that you and the team are bringing to market over there?

speaker-1: Thank you so much for having me. We are based in California and we are a website and retail chain that is servicing women across the United States. We are apparel and non apparel, so dresses, outerwear, jackets, sweaters, boots, jeans, ⁓ and then also just big within full head to toe outfitting for anything she has on her calendar.

speaker-0: Absolutely. So, you know, I could go there and kinda get the entire look for an event that I’m going to or a pool party or Labor Day like we were just talking about.

speaker-1: Yep. ⁓ head to toe outfitting style inspiration and really affordable. Nothing on our website is over a hundred and fifty dollars. We’re constantly giving out obviously promotions and offers to incentivize our client. But we if it’s you’re shopping for weddings, if you’re shopping for weekends away, destinations, ⁓ and even just the casual everyday athleisure she might need, we are that one stop shop for all of your outfitting needs.

speaker-0: Amazing. Now, take me back in time, you know, where does the idea to kind of get into this world come from? What was going on?

speaker-1: Yeah, so this was started by myself and my stepmom Sandy. ⁓ at the time we were really looking to create something that allowed both a mother and a daughter to kind of shop in the same space. So think, you know, the destination that Nordstrom’s is where you can go in and there’s something for every different type of aesthetic and client. ⁓ but for us it was really important to keep it affordable. So a really big focus on quality at an affordable price point. This started sort of after the two thousand eight, two thousand nine recession when She was holding her wallet really tight and really thoughtful about what made sense for her to purchase in her life. And we were there to kind of show her you didn’t have to spend $180 on a pair of jeans or $100 plus dollars on a top and how she can sort of mix and match those pieces to maximize her wardrobe. And together, myself and my stepmom Sandy, really provided a styling service to our clients. So making sure when they came in, they were kind of outfitted for. ⁓ you know, I just had a baby, I’m going back to work, I just got divorced, I you know, lost a bunch of weight, whatever that whatever that moment or that ⁓ mindset she was in at the time or experience, we were there to kind of show her how to revamp and rebuild her work.

speaker-0: Absolutely. And then we kind of maybe buried the lead a little bit here, but you you’ve been in business for quite some time. So founded back in two thousand twelve. Yep. ⁓ you know, I guess what was the landscape like back then as far as ⁓ you know, were you more traditional retail back then? Were was direct consumer at the forefront of your mind, or like how how did that kind of play out in those first couple of years?

speaker-1: Yeah, we were all we’ve always been digital and social first. So Vici really started before Instagram was a thing. We were on Facebook originally and we were utilizing both Facebook and Instagram as that sort of product catalog for our assortment. So you may remember, but organic social used to be a way different thing than it is today. And so you could reach a lot of people very, very easily by posting consistently and sharing content across platforms. So we really utilize both Facebook as well as Instagram and then later TikTok to showcase different outfits, different products that were dropping. And we did this on a daily basis, multiple times a day. and then that fed back into our website. We did open retail stores. ⁓ so prior to COVID we had three retail stores as well. ⁓ we currently now have two and then we also have wholesale as well. So ⁓ it’s definitely, you know changed into an omni channel, but it was always about meeting our customers in s on social, meeting them digitally, and and obviously that can then feed back into the retail stores and vice versa.

speaker-0: Do you remember as you were kind of first getting started and making those first posts, ⁓ you know, did it feel like it was working or did it really take a while for the flywheel to actually take off? Like how did you, you know, start to see those signals that are all right, this is w the a great use of our time, like this as a strategy is actually working for us? Yeah.

speaker-1: Think we saw pretty early on a great response to the styling, the product, and the outfitting. ⁓ it took a while for that to obviously translate into sales, but it was clear that we were building a community, growing quickly, and how we would kind of translate onto the website took a bit of time. So we were posting and driving people into our client, you know, shopping experience, in-store experience, as well as placing phone orders at the time. That obviously didn’t feel scalable. It took some time to say, okay. Let me look up how to how do we build a website? Okay, Shopify. That seems really easy. Let’s do that. And so building that piece, you know, took a little bit of time. There was definitely a focus in the beginning on promoting the outfits and having the shopping ⁓ appointments and shopping experiences in person that then translated to doing it digitally.

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speaker-1: Gosh, I I feel like I’d have to think about like the pre and the post-COVID and even the past few years. But I would say in-person is becoming more important again, and we’ve been seeing that over the past couple years. We did a a handful of pop-ups last year that really kind of resolidified for us that in-person experience is extremely important. And defin we as a brand definitely got comfortable in those post-COVID years with you know the online being the bulk of our business and being able to drop product daily and ship out really quickly and efficiently. And I know our customer loves that, but she’s also craving the in-store experience. And then from a new client perspective, I do believe it’s really important for people to come in and be able to touch and feel the product, experience the brand in person. So I think both have a lot of value. And right now it’s about connecting those two experiences.

speaker-0: What do you think is separating e commerce brands that are growing right now from the ones that are potentially struggling?

speaker-1: I think continuing to evolve, ⁓ one mistake I made for a while was like staying stuck in a mindset of like this playbook works really well, let’s keep going with this. ⁓ and you just have to keep evolving because the landscape is changing so much, there’s so much competition. Standing out is really difficult. So your brand needs to keep, you know, reacting and listening to the customer feedback, ⁓ testing and trying different things to continue to learn and evolve. I do feel like if you stay stagnant for too long, you will fall behind. So moving quickly on things that you have a lot of conviction about, even if it’s just a test, if you have that that founder gut that this could work well, ⁓ in that instinct, I think it’s worth laying out a test plan to try those things.

speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely. I think that, you know, you d you definitely need to get a playbook that works, but there should be some wiggle room within that playbook, you know, twenty percent or X hours a week or month or a budget of Y, you know, to try interesting things, you know, what some people call them moonshots or or whatnot. But, you know, you do need to keep trying new things, not necessarily to replace what works, but to oftentimes find out what doesn’t work. And but then the things that do that can complement what you’re already doing. just help build a more sustainable business, right? You know, unfortunately. ⁓ social media, especially like Meta and now TikTok, like it’s almost oftentimes it’s like they have one channel that they’re extremely good at and like the the most terrifying thing is the algorithm changes and they just don’t like your product anymore. Or you like the what happens to you if you lose that channel, right? So you gotta find these other ways to diversify how you’re getting customers into the business.

speaker-1: Agree more. I think it’s so to your point, those channels are so volatile based on the algorithm. And I look at the testing piece as also de-risking having too many eggs in one basket. ⁓ and we’re a brand that definitely, in hindsight, probably should have moved faster on some things. ⁓ TikTok would be a really good example. That channel came up, it’s a brand that was mostly static imagery and kind of light in video. When TikTok came about, it was like, wait, how are we gonna get a ton of scale with these videos? And being someone and my role. That is really brand focused. I have high brand standards and want all the content that’s put out to be as elevated as possible to represent our brand. And that’s not exactly what makes sense for that channel. So that sort of stalled our ⁓ movement there. We’re obviously we’re moving faster now, but in hindsight, you know, not not trying to have everything be perfect and doing what makes sense for each channel.

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speaker-1: Yep, totally agree. Say for this year, what the huge growth piece for us has been our partnership with Dillard’s. ⁓ so for a long time we were direct to our consumer as well as the retail store experience, but really hadn’t considered in a major way having a wholesale partner. And VG has launched in 60 stores at Dillard’s ⁓ nationwide as well as on their website, and then we just confirmed our plans for 2027 to be in a hundred stores. So the finding out and building our br finding out that I think wholesale, which originally to me felt like maybe we were giving a piece of our brand away and we wouldn’t have the control that we needed. We found a great partner in Dillard’s and we’re able to build, you know, a partnership with them where they’re very customer and product focused. Styling and outfitting is extremely important to them. And then this unlocks an opportunity for Vici to really build its brand awareness. We’re just, to your point, one website, we’re not Coca-Cola. We don’t have the massive scale and brand awareness that a lot of others do. And so these strategic partnerships I think are really important to get your brand name out there and to be aligned with ⁓ a retailer like Dillard’s where we know quality and the client are super important. So that’s been really exciting for us.

speaker-0: How did that come about? I’m sure there are listeners out there that are, you know, well along, their business is is is churning out great sales for them. ⁓ and, you know, they’re like, you know, we should probably look into some relationships like that. So how did it happen for you?

speaker-1: Yeah, I think we have a lot of brand fans across the you know, across the world. And I believe that was just an organic outreach of we, you know, we like what you’re doing and we think, you know, there could be a great partnership here. I think a lot of major retailers are also looking at what are the brands that are like making moves and what are the brands that have a presence on our social channels that might be important to say where’s our client spending her time? What type of content is she looking at? And we’re definitely A pioneer in the influencer marketing space. We’re a pioneer in utilizing social as a demand engine for our brand. So ⁓ partnering with Vici is definitely gonna unlock for you access to a ton of content and creative that most brands just don’t have an infrastructure to

speaker-0: Now did you get that email or was that someone else on the team? I’d almost be like I’d be like, ⁓ is this real?

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. ⁓ we’ve had we’ve had partnerships in the past. We’ve partnered with Nordstroms as well. So and I’ve had partnerships and outreach from a ton of different ⁓ partners, whether it be Target, Amazon, etc. But ⁓ it’s really, really important to me that the partnership is with a like minded brand that cares a lot about the customer and product quality. And it’s just not, you know, a spaghetti at the wall. Let’s get let’s compete and throw as much. product out there and see what sticks. ⁓ we really want to make sure it’s curation. That’s super important for our brain.

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speaker-1: I would say continuing to connect that in-person and online experience, how that all happens, you know, is to be determined. But I believe we have to be thinking of the mindset to create that surprise and delight and experiential moment on our website digitally, and as well as creating surprise and delight when a client comes into our store. So they have, you know, as you noted, it’s so competitive. They have so many options when it comes to I need to buy a dress where do I go? And where you know what website do I go to? Do I get my car and go somewhere? So this omni-channel approach, as well as making sure that we’re providing additional value in shopping with our brand. So we’re we’re in the phase of sort of laying out how are the many different ways Beachy can provide additional value when she chooses to shop with our brand.

speaker-0: It’s things that I’ve seen kind of in the in the luxury and the fashion space is ⁓ leaning into, you know, where AI and generative is going as far as, you know, building unique looks on the fly or, you know, and then turning that look into, you know, a bundle that you can buy. And, you know, unfortunately, all of that is possible, but computers are kind of dumb. So you gotta like think about it first before the computer can actually help you do that stuff. ⁓ but are are there any plans in the future to to kinda lean a little bit more into where technology is going?

speaker-1: Yeah, and I would say w th we’re in the exploration phase of there are so many tools out there right now that in theory all sound wonderful to add, you know, turning photos into videos on your site, the bundles, but I feel like the technology’s still evolving. There’s areas where I want to be a first mover and there’s there’s things that we’re already doing, but there’s areas where I’m also wanting to see the technology evolve a little bit more before we put it on our website. But we want to make it easier for her to buy the complete look. We want to make it easier for her. to view a product online and see it on many different models and see it in many different views and environments. But I do think we have to be really thoughtful about which tools make sense for our customer and our website.

speaker-0: Yeah, I could agree I just so much. There are so many tools out there. ⁓ and some of them are great and groundbreaking and unique, and some of them are just ⁓ unfortunately just wrappers of a different technology trying to make a few dollars off of selling it in a specific way. but I do see, you know, as AI ⁓ is getting more mainstream and tokens are getting more affordable for lack of a better term, there, it’s like There’s gonna be a lot of interesting stuff coming with ⁓ you know, AR, I guess, like augmented reality and and all that stuff. So, and I I definitely see, you know, shopping from home, the clothes, you know, that’s like a that’s a whole experience. Now you’re taking the dressing room to just their bedroom. So it’s like it’s interesting stuff that’s happening. For sure. Awesome. Now you guys have built an amazing Customer base, what do you think modern e commerce brands still underestimate about community and customer connect?

speaker-1: I definitely can say this from my own personal experience. You can get really caught up in the data side of things. So Vici was a brand that was, you know, super high growth trajectory for many, many years through the COVID and post-COVID years. And as it got really competitive, that obviously will plateau a little bit. And so you start to kind of question just different areas of the business and really dig into the numbers, obviously, to make sure, you know, no stone unturned. But I think what I What I really learned is to not doubt the the founder gut and that you know informed instinct you have from years of building the business. And you have to just make sure you’re balancing those two things. You can go you don’t want to swing the pendulum, you know, either way, ⁓ in too much. But I think that balance is what I strive for in my role. And and making sure that I’m always listening to customer feedback. I read social comments, I look at DMs, I stay very, very I read product reviews, I read site reviews. And this is a daily and weekly practice I have. I do think it’s really important to not, you know, be too big to consider how important that feedback is. It often helps me come to a handful of conclusions that then, you know, spark really great conversations with our product team or with our site team or with our marketing team. So I don’t think one person’s I obviously take it with a grain of salt when it’s very, very specific feedback, but I do try to look for trends there and I do try to take into account that our client is sharing their feedback and we need to be listening to it and we’re not we wouldn’t have a business without our customers. So I do think it’s important to, you know, never outgrow reading, reading feedback, reading comments, reading DMs and reading reviews.

speaker-0: Hey, everybody, just a quick reminder. Please like this video and subscribe if you haven’t. We’re releasing interviews like this every week. So don’t miss out. Now back to the interview. I can’t tell you how often we come into working with brands on the agency side of things, especially in conversion rate optimization. It’s just like your customers are telling you exactly what to fix. And so we’re like we’re immediately diving in. We’re like, all right, let’s look at all these customer service tickets. Like, let’s look at all the language and the reviews. And it’s like one not only are they telling you the improvements that they’d like to see, they’re also telling you like there’s so much hidden stuff in there. It’s like, ⁓ like this is the language that they are using to describe the transformation of shopping with you. That is just a straight up ⁓ an ad campaign that you can that they just handed to you that you don’t have to pay somebody for. Just like use their language and use all that stuff kind of back to them. ⁓ but yeah, it it’s wild to me that some, you know, we’ll we’ll talk to brands that are doing Great, great business. And we’re like, Hey, when’s the time you ran a customer survey? Or, you know, looked at the customer service tickets from like the lens of how to optimize the experience or the language that you’re using on your website. And they’re like, ⁓ we aren’t. And I’m like, ⁓ does there’s so much free, awesome opportunity here.

speaker-1: Yeah, exactly. We keep our customer care management in-house. She you know, the person that runs that sits a couple seats away from me. And I really like to just stay clued into what that feedback is to your point and utilize that to inform, you know, site A B testing, utilize that to inform our roadmap and really what’s important for us. So the data piece of it comes from, I think, you know, having a strong e-commerce team that can then lay out a testing roadmap, partner with agencies. ⁓ to test different, you know, different enhancements to our site or app experience. But I do think it starts with making sure the leadership team is invested in reviewing that feedback. ⁓ because it’s not just ⁓ it’s not just something to be managed within customer care. I think at the executive level it’s really important to be listening to that feedback.

speaker-0: Yeah, when we’re doing ⁓ larger projects or like strategies, like we’re all oftentimes we’re like, hey, like would it be possible to get your like customer service team in this conversation real quick? Because I guarantee you they know patterns that are existing on the website that haven’t been brought up yet, because it’s not necessarily their job to flag that stuff. ⁓ but it’s wild, like the stuff that you’ll learn from them. They’re like, Well, yeah, if if you just gave them the opportunity to think about it, we’re like, what Like what would you want to see fixed on the website that would probably get less inquiries from, you know, a a customer service perspective? They’ll just be like, ⁓ the size chart is goofy for these reasons. We should make this change. It’s like, ⁓ my gosh, put that to the front of the line. Let’s go.

speaker-1: Yep, I love that. No, I a hundred percent agree.

speaker-0: Awesome. Now, ⁓ before I let you go here, is there anything I didn’t ask you about that you think would resonate with our audience?

speaker-1: I love influencer marketing. That’s something I’m really passionate about. A goal of mine is definitely to find ways to create a marketplace experience, you know, honing into like influencer brands and influencer driven products. That’s something that I think is next on our roadmap that I don’t see a ton of brands doing. There’s obviously like your Amazon drop like type of partnerships, but I I truly mean for the influencer to be involved in the actual. product development, not just the marketing face of the brand. ⁓ Part of what makes Vici really unique is our read and react business. So we watch really closely to what’s selling and resonating from at a product level, but also at just a trend level and category level. And oftentimes when something sells really well, we’ll think to refresh it, new prints, new colors, new you know, new fabrics, and we’ll look at what’s top performing for our key brand partners. And so that creator ⁓ involvement in the product development, not just the selling of the product, is something that I want to figure out how to do at a larger scale.

speaker-0: scale. Absolutely. You know, that’s definitely a a fun challenge to figure out. Now, obviously you’ve talked about the amazing products that you and your team are bringing to market over there and your amazing partnership with Dillards. ⁓ you know, if I’m listening to this show, I want to check out more about the brand, where should I go? What should I do? Yeah.

speaker-1: Vicicollection.com that’s gonna have everything a destination list for our retail stores, where our Dillard stores are located as well. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok. It’s at Vici. ⁓ and we’re posting daily and dropping daily. And we have people, as I noted, responding to comments, including myself. So if there’s styling or product questions, we’re highly responsive across all channels.

speaker-0: Awesome, Amy. Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing all those amazing insights.

speaker-1: Thank you so much for having me, Chase. It’s been a pleasure.