Via The Iconic.
At a breakfast hosted by The Iconic CEO Patrick Schmidt and board member Donna Player in Sydney yesterday, guests got an insight into where the online fashion retailer is headed.
For those in the industry it was a valuable look at how the young business—The Iconic is six years old—has grown to become a dominant player in Australia’s ecommerce fashion market, generating around 50,000 orders per day.
Schmidt, who is the former CEO of Groupon, said a customer-focused strategy has led to the business attracting more than 10 million visits per month.
“We want to make a seamless and inspiring shopping experience,” he said. “We’re not quite there yet… It’s not about good or bad service—we want to make this a religion.”
Delivery is an important part of the seamless experience, with the retailer boasting three hour delivery within the Sydney metro region and overnight/next day for most other locations. Schmidt places such an emphasis on this that he can often be seen on the floor of The Iconic’s warehouse in western Sydney helping to pick and pack orders.
Donna Player and Patrick Schmidt.
“Fast delivery sounds easy but it isn’t,” he said. “There is a lot of tech, processes and systems behind the scenes.”
The Iconic is driven by customer feedback and places a lot of weight on its net promoter score (NPS), which measures how likely customers are to recommend a company to others. The retailer currently has a score of 88 per cent.
“Most retailers would kill for a score like this,” said Schmidt. “We prioritise everything around our NPS. We take input from customers and make sure we only bring on brands relevant to them.
“That’s why we’re growing so much. We see lots of customers who have shopped with us before coming back.”
It was customer demand that led to The Iconic launching its Premium Boutique, which stocks around 150 local and international designer brands.
“Our purpose is customer liberation,” said Schmidt. “We liberate customers to buy whatever they want, from wherever they are and have it delivered.
“We are very clear: we don’t want to be the niche. We don’t want to be one of the small guys playing in just one section of the market.”
The Iconic stocks around 150 local and international designer brands.
Player, who has extensive fashion industry experience including a stint as head of merchandise at David Jones, has been instrumental in the premium offering and said customers were demanding a bigger range.
She said The Iconic plans to double its premium brands over the next 12 to 18 months because “that’s what customers are asking for”.
“It’s a customer-led strategy,” she said. “Our purpose is to become the leading destination for premium brands.”
Schmidt predicted the premium platform would receive one million visits during the upcoming summer period.
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