Fashion Briefing: How Veronica Beard is using personal invitations to drive in-store sales

Since rolling out a clienteling app to its store associates in June, 13-year-old contemporary fashion brand Veronica Beard has made a habit of using text messages to invite customers to stores for mini-events. These gatherings focus on activities such as shopping the latest collection or raising money for a cause. And they’re typically held during quieter selling periods, making ample use of associates’ time. 

“Our stores are our greatest labs and they’re where the brand comes to life,” Veronica Swanson Beard, who co-founded the brand with her sister-in-law Veronica Miele Beard, said in May. “They’re where we test products and where our community constantly gathers. … Each is a Veronica Beard community center that has brought us so much loyalty and goodwill.” 

Veronica Beard is nearing 30 stores, with locations in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Each features a customized design, based on the local market and customer. And together, this year, they’ve hosted more than 350 events. 

Since the height of the pandemic, when more consumers concluded they can more easily shop online, the role of the store has been evolving. Moving far beyond a point of sale, it’s become a customer service center, a fulfillment center and a marketing play, as well as a community hub. More brands realizing the high costs of online orders, specifically around shipping and returns, are directing customers to stores. Meanwhile, companies determined to maintain the level of customer relationships built in-store are getting scrappy: Brands including Chico’s and Lafayette 148 are leveraging networks of direct sellers. Meanwhile, companies including Prada are upping their focus on “retail productivity” through clienteling. Brand agencies are starting to launch clienteling services to cater to the new demand. 

For its part, immediately following its clienteling launch, Veronica Beard saw a 26% increase in average order value in the four months ending September 2023. Nine percent of its store sales during this period can be attributed to its clienteling efforts, according to the brand. In September, which was heavy in in-store events promoting its fall product releases, the brand saw a 35% conversion rate for customer interactions involving an associate, and 87% percent of those sales were made in-store. 

“Driving customers to stores is especially important for higher-end [brands and retailers],” said Cailin Broccoli, director of omni-success at omnichannel platform NewStore, which powers Veronica Beard’s clienteling business. “When you can get a customer to a store, your associates who are experts are going to upsell them and build on any relationships they’ve already established through a chat.”

Each Veronica Beard store averages two events per month. Along with collection launches, events commonly focus on trunk shows with brand partners, shop-for-a-cause events, meet-and-greets with the founders and opportunities to work with a stylist. Involved expenses for the brand include food and beverages, floral arrangements, gifts for involved partners and, on occasion, small takeaways for attendees. 

The guest list is typically chosen by Veronica Beard store associates, who focus on the top clients most likely to be most interested in the central collection or cause. Otherwise, when a brand partner is involved, that partner manages the guest outreach. Text-based invitations provided by Veronica Beard’s corporate marketing team are personalized by store associates before being sent to invitees, of which the quantity varies. An email invitation facilitating more imagery is also sent. 

According to a brand spokesperson, thanks to its clienteling tools providing a standard method of customer outreach and the ability to measure store metrics based on that outreach, Veronica Beard has been better equipped to identify areas of opportunity for each store. Those learnings and best practices are shared across its stores, allowing the company to develop and refine its VIP customer experience on an ongoing basis.

Before the company invested in the NewStore Associate App for clienteling, Veronica Beard associates maintained a list of customers within their personal mobile devices. 

For many retailers, getting customers to opt-in to text message-based communications is a challenge, said Broccoli. Those customers who do opt-in, and visit the store based on a chat with an associate, most often prove to be “loyal customers invested in the business.” 

Veronica Beard, which is profitable, has around 300 total employees. In May, it was projecting $250 million in sales for this year. 

Swanson Beard said secondary retail markets have recently been “huge growth drivers” for the company, which used the pandemic as an opportunity to go after newly available, desirable storefronts. Miami and Newport Beach are among its newest store locations. The Beards own a majority of the brand — in their third year in business, they sold a minority share to investors Andrew Rosen, John Howard and Lew Frankfort. 

“Our business is growing more DTC as we get better [at using] our online [channel] and our data and we further build out our brick-and-mortar business. But it is an omni [channel] business,” said Miele Beard. “You need to be wherever [the customer] is.” Veronica Beard’s current retail partners include Neiman Marcus, Shopbop and Net-a-Porter.

Inside our coverage

Luxury Briefing: How did 2 luxury retailers end up in the bargain bin?

CMO Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson on evolving Pandora Jewelry beyond a charm bracelets brand

Glossy Pop Newsletter: On Substack, a vibrant fashion community is burgeoning — in 2024, it is likely to explode