The Iconic has made a push into the luxury brand market, introducing more premium brands into its online store, including Australian designers Josh Goot, Camilla and Lover.
CEO Patrick Schmidt said it is just one of the ways the retailer continues to be a disrupter in the fashion industry. He was speaking at a Ragtrader's Designed to Disrupt event.
“The Iconic started with a vision of serving everyone with a credit card in Australia – that’s not a very exact target. When I came on board nearly three years ago we decided we need more refinement. We decided we wanted to serve the right consumer with the right brands,” he said.
He said the decision to incorporate more higher end brands into The Iconic led to the increase in cost of its customer service offering, such as its three-hour delivery policy.
“Three hour delivery and really good customer service is more expensive, so we needed to increase the price point and appeal to a more premium customer with luxury brands. As a result our average sale is a lot higher,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt believes Australian shoppers have evolved past the association of e-commerce with discount prices and now feel more comfortable spending more online.
“The second wave of retail isn’t about the price being cheap,” he said. “We have emerged from e-commerce being firmly associated with discount to now it being associated with the best selection.”
The mobile reality
Schmidt said the move to mobile is a reality that has a lot of implications for retail and it’s a reality that the industry has to face.
The Iconic director of product Zoe Ghani said when the company thinks of mobile, it thinks of it as a cross-platform device, as many users may start at desktop and then complete their purchase on mobile or within the retailer’s app.
“There are different uses for different devices,” Ghani said. “Mobile is great for personalisation, geo locations and mobile payments. They are the natural uses.”
Recently the pureplay business launched a follow feature on its app, called The Daily, which allows users to follow their favourite brands. It has a similar interface to popular social media site, Instagram.
Users are then notified when the brands they are ‘following’ have new stock available.
The offering is still in the beta stage but Ghani said it has seen great results, with users of The Daily spending more and staying in the app ecosystem longer.
Despite the app investment, Schmidt doesn’t believe apps hold the future of the shopping experience - a view that opposes Iconic MD and co-founders Adam Jacobs who previously said app commerce is the future of mobile commerce at a Vivid event.
Schmidt said: “Apps aren’t going to be the future of retail in five years. I think mobile websites will be used more in five years.”
He said using apps can be disruptive and need to be intentionally downloaded, whereas mobile browsers can offer a more seamless experience.
Businesses that have previously been digital-only, such as Amazon, have begun opening bricks and mortar stores globally.
While Schmidt said he doesn’t rule it out completely, he doesn’t believe The Iconic will open stores in the next few years.
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