Transforming Menswear eCommerce: From Discounts to Premium Quality with Moss’s Matt Henton (episode 502)
Matt Henton is Head of eCommerce at Moss, the men’s suits and formal fashion brand. Founded in 1851 Moss now sells via their Remarkable eCommerce site, and 110 physical stores around the UK.
Listen now for free:
Subscribe on your Favourite Podcast App
Dive in:
[04:29] Transitioned from telcos to eCommerce, varied sectors.
[09:11] Adapting business strategy to suit 2020 challenges.
[10:34] Customers and business addicted to discounts.
[14:02] Evolving fashion focus: understanding product, selling internally.
[17:11] Diversified product range drives year-round sales growth.
[18:35] Listen to Matt’s Top Tips!
Leveraging a Crisis for Strategic Reset
Use significant disruptions as opportunities for a strategic overhaul. Moss Bros took advantage of the pandemic’s disruption to completely rethink their business strategy. This period allowed them to move away from a discount-driven model to one focused on premium quality products. This strategic reset involved reassessing their product, pricing, and promotional strategies, ultimately leading to a more sustainable and profitable business model.
Building a Strong Product Foundation is Key
Moss’s successful shift began with a focus on high-quality product development. They prioritized using premium fabrics and thoughtful designs to create clothing customers would value. By concentrating on producing high-quality products with materials from top mills in Italy, Moss was able to shift the focus of their marketing from discounts to the intrinsic value of their offerings. This emphasizes the importance of a strong product foundation in building a successful brand.
Storytelling Creates Value and Drives Sales
After establishing a strong product base, Moss shifted its marketing strategy to focus on storytelling. The marketing team now emphasizes the features, benefits, and provenance of each clothing item. This highlights the power of storytelling in connecting with customers on an emotional level and creating value beyond just the price tag.
Moving Away from Discounts
Customers conditioned to expect discounts can make transitioning to a premium pricing model challenging. Moss’s success demonstrates the need for patience and a company-wide commitment to this new strategy. This takeaway emphasizes the importance of long-term vision and aligning all departments towards a common goal.
Broadening Product Range to Mitigate Seasonality
Before, Moss’s sales heavily relied on seasonal events. By expanding their product range to include casual wear and holiday attire, they were able to attract customers year-round. This highlights the importance of understanding customer needs and adapting product offerings to create a more stable and resilient revenue stream.
eCommerce Book Top Tip
- Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug
- The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger
- The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
eCommerce Traffic Top Tip
- SEO specifically organic search
Tool Top Tip
- Contentsquare analytics and customer journey tool
Carbon Top Tip
- For certain businesses, adopting a rental model alongside a made-to-order system can significantly shrink their environmental impact. These strategies work together to minimize waste. Rental options allow products to be reused multiple times, while made-to-order ensures production only happens when there’s a confirmed customer, preventing excess inventory from piling up in landfills.
Interview links
*Thank you to Brad Houldsworth of Remarkable Commerce for the guest introduction!
Related Episodes
- Scaling a Slow Fashion Business with Kristian Hansen (episode 445)
- Serving 160k Customers Custom Fit Fashion with Jess Fleischer, Son of a Tailor (episode 456)
- How Vivobarefoot Achieved Astronomical Growth and Scaled to 8 Figures (episode 480)
Without the sponsors the podcast wouldn’t be possible – please do check them out:
Have you yet downloaded our ebook?
To celebrate reaching Episode 500 we’ve created an EPIC eCommerce success-focused ebook.
Packed with FIVE HUNDRED Top Tips about how to make your eCommerce store more profitable.
Featuring the advice of many, many past guests, alongside industry experts and many from you – our listeners.
Chloe has checked every single tip, and organised the whole thing into sections for you.
Making is super easy to dip and dip out and take inspiration as and when you need it.
This ebook needs to be sat on your desktop – or (even…) printed and sat on your desk.
Download your free copy right now
Full transcript to read & download:
Like to be a guest? Apply Here‘