During this week’s Glossy’s three-day Fashion & Luxury Summit in Naples, Florida, industry leaders and insiders compared notes on the big challenges they’re facing and the tactics they’re leveraging to overcome them. Below, we spotlight one of the standout speaker sessions with Molly Langenstein, CEO and president of Chico’s FAS Inc. The company, which owns Chico’s, White House Black Market and Soma, reported $2.1 billion is net sales in 2022. The session focused on the innovative ways the company builds its community across multiple channels.
On fostering community
“Someone reached out to someone in our marketing department and said that their sister lost everything in the [2022] hurricane. And as tragic as it was to lose all those home possessions, they said she was the most upset to lose the Chico’s jewelry collection she’d been collecting over the years. So the team took this on. The sister sent pictures of her favorite jewelry and we went to the archives, and we found all her favorite pieces.
That’s what community is. It starts with an authentic foundation of people being kind to one another and genuinely being interested in one another, and it’s really not anything fancier than that. But it is something that you really have to unlock with your team to make them know that it’s OK to kind of draw outside the lines.
People can see straight through it when it’s not real. In order to create that authenticity, you have to have a very clear vision and purpose. Anybody can make what we make. So although we have great products, in order to be different and the reason why customers come back is for the people and that connection. They know them. It’s that natural vision and purpose that creates the community. Being clear about that as leaders and constantly reinforcing it is what fosters it and keeps it going.”
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On empowering workers to make meaningful connections
“The big question is: How do we unlock and give [workers] the funds or give them the capability to be able to have that one-on-one connection? It’s not only about taking care of your customers, but you also, equally, have to take care of your people. Your people aren’t going to want to have that sort of engagement unless you’re having that same sort of relationship with them. And that is something that is incredibly powerful and super important to get that community growth.
Our leadership is [crucial] to keeping those 11,000 associates engaged. I received a letter from a gentleman a few months ago about an experience at our store when his daughter went shopping for her mom for a gift, with just $25. … He said he looked at the receipt when he got home and noticed that the math didn’t add up; [a worker] had [pitched in] to make sure that his daughter had a good experience.
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When I reached out to the store manager to say thank you, she shared that she would do anything for the company because it’s allowed her to work a schedule where she can make her [sick] daughter’s appointments and treatments. That’s what you want your frontline to be: empowered to make the right decisions, to do the right thing for people.”
On organic customer communities
“We have quite a few organic communities that are out there in the market. One group is with White House Black Market, and they call themselves the bracelet gang. It’s a group of women that are in the real estate and banking fields. They help each other. … This has nothing to do with the company; they’ve gathered on their own. They just happen to like White House Black Market clothes, and they gift each other this bracelet every time they get together.
The other group is for Chico’s, and it’s called the Chico Shoppers. This, again, has nothing to do with the company. It’s a Facebook group that’s about 30,000 strong. One of their four rules is that [members] have to be kind, they can’t talk about politics, and they can’t sell anybody anything. So whether they’re dealing with something at home or have an issue at work, their common bond is that they love shopping at Chico’s. If I’m ever having a bad day, I get on that group and they just lift me up.”
On using technology to fuel community
“Digital investments are super expensive, but they’re incredibly important. You have to just keep spending, because the next new idea and the next new tool still needs to be there. Our Style Connect [styling] tool has 3.7 million customers. But we have about 8 million unique customers in total, between the three brands. Finding ways to be able to grow digital through the tools comes from really listening to the frontline [workers] better, and [supplying] them with what they need to be able to grow the business. So we spend a lot of time listening to our sales associates and the people on the frontline and what they’re struggling with.
One of the things we’ve changed is our loyalty program. For quite a long time, we had about 90% of our customers enrolled in our loyalty program, which is a very high number. But one of the things that we realized is that our best and most loyal customers spend $22,000 with the brand each year. But their loyalty and their benefit weren’t any different than a customer that was spending $100 a year. So we spent time and investment in creating a digital platform to collect and analyze the purchase information of all our customers. Last year, we created a tiered model, separated between the three brands.”
But one person can’t decide the benefits for all of those top customers. That’s really not what the customers want. What they really want is that connection with the [Chico’s associate they know], and for them to decide on a personal gift. So now we say [to our associates], “You decide what to give,” because it’s going to be different [every time]. Maybe she wants chocolates, or maybe she wants to go to dinner with her husband.”
