Franchising, retail, business
22/06/2017
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Bonobos first launched in 2007 with only one thing in inventory: great, exceptionally well-made pants.
Flash forward 10 years to 2017, and you'll find Walmart agreeing to acquire them for $310 million.
The founders had become fixated on the issue of making a pair of the best-fitting pants possible, and since their product was the end result of endless hours of fascination and minute detail, that was certainly enough to hang a brand on. You know, make one perfect thing, and then let your work speak for you.
Since that day, Bonobos has become the largest clothing brand ever launched over the web in the United States.
Thankfully for customers, it’s pretty impressive what a company led by passionate, capable people can do without the strictures of rent, middlemen, or the network of staff needed to be a retailer predominantly in a brick-and-mortar store. For just getting started, they were uniquely poised for success online.
Bonobos’ concentrated, dogged attention to improving and designing to the best of their ability unsurprisingly resulted in superior clothes and resonated with buyers, especially in an online marketplace where quality and credibility is the only currency that matters, anyway.
With quality taken care of, Bonobos made another key decision to cement credibility, and it’s the reason you might have heard of them through word of mouth rather than on billboards.
Instead of sending money into traditional marketing campaigns, Bonobos focuses their attention and funds on customer service. Rather than spending money to gain more customers, they’re spending money to make sure their current customers are happy. By investing in customer satisfaction, they get the rewards of traditional branding (more customers) in the end, but build their company on top of steadier, more reliable customers, a well-earned reputation, and the best marketing of all — personal testimonials from friends and acquaintances. Bonobos is one example of a mutually positive business model between consumers’ rewards and the company’s profits.
It’s the old adage of "keep your head down, do good work, and recognition will come" in practice. Admittedly, it’s an ideal that isn’t always guaranteed to work — but it certainly has for Bonobos’ founders and Stanford Business School graduates, Brian Spaly and Andy Dunn.
Their expansion past pants that are neither too boxy nor too tight was met with similarly steady fanfare. What began with their best-selling Washed Chinos has since expanded to include a full line of shirts, suits, jackets, sweaters, and more, as well as some retail shops, which they call "guideshops". No matter what you buy, it’s almost guaranteed that over the course of its lifetime you’ll still never think about how your pants or your shirt fit as much as Spaly and Dunn have.
If you're interested in picking up some extremely well-made, smarter clothing essentials, check out Bonobos here.
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Fonte:http://uk.businessinsider.com/bonobos-company-overview-2017-5?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BISelect&pt=385758&ct=Sailthru_BI_Newsletters&mt=8&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Wednesday%20Friday%29%202017-06-23&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select%20-%20Engaged%2C%20Active%2C%20Passive%2C%20Disengaged&r=US&IR=T