In 2015, almost nobody knew about Fashion Nova. Some people went to the store in Panorama Mall, Los Angeles and purchased clothes there. It was a nice little kiosk store. However, if you mentioned Fashion Nova outside hat mall, most people would ask, “What’s that?”
Many people believe that Fashion Nova was established in 2013. However, it’s been selling clubwear to many women in LA since 2006.
So, you may be wondering:
What happened to Fashion Nova? How was the brand able to gain so much traction? Why didn’t I know Fashion Nova before 2015?
The simple answer? Technology.
Technology changed Fashion Nova and made it the brand you know it as today.
How Technology Changed Fashion Nova
After running the brand in a store in Panorama City for several years, Fashion Nova founder and CEO, Richard Saghian, discovered that some people were reselling Fashion Nova products on the web for higher prices.
Saghian didn’t know how e-commerce worked at the time. Initially, he wanted to establish 100 brick-and-mortar stores across the United States so people could find a store close to them. However, knowing it would take many years to accomplish this, he know there had to be a different way.
When Saghian discovered what people were doing, he decided to change what he was doing in brick-and-mortar and move online.
However, he wasn’t sure that the store would be a success. So, before he launched the store, he decided to promote Fashion Nova on Instagram. Because he had been engaging with his customers regularly, he was able to get pictures of them in Fashion Nova outfits and upload them to the Instagram page. These customers then shared the pictures and the brand’s following began to rapidly grow.
Once his Instagram hit 60K followers, Saghian decided to launch an online store. Within that weekend, all the items in the store sold out.
This was the beginning of technology changing Fashion Nova’s status. Instagram was the catalyst that brought thousands, and now millions, of people to the site.
Fashion Nova’s Instagram Strategy for Growing the Brand
Fashion Nova is not the only brand that has been using Instagram. So, how have they been able to grow so successfully while many brands are still trying to find their footing?
Richard Saghian implemented various strategies that are still in place today for growing Fashion Nova.
1. Regular Feed Updates.
Many people believe that the maximum number of posts anyone should upload daily is 10 posts. Many fashion brands upload less than 10 posts daily.
Fashion Nova, on the other hand, did it differently.
As the brand gained footing and more people started shopping for products, Richard Saghian employed various tailors and designers and increased the company’s production speed. So, they started releasing more than 500 new styles each week.
By having so many styles to release weekly, Fashion Nova needed to upload up to 30 pictures per day, showcasing the new styles.
By expanding their styles and uploading so many posts, Fashion Nova was able to increase its daily engagement rate on Instagram. Offering so many photos of various selections ensures there’s something for everyone to see.
2. Engaging with Followers.
Fashion Nova’s customers stay loyal to the brand because the brand has a lot to offer them, like a sense of community. Apart from providing them with affordable and fashionable products, Fashion Nova heavily engages with its followers on Instagram.
Saghian claims he now employs more than 600 people and has a dedicated online and social media team that has perfected the art of selling to its customers, who are young women between the ages of 18 and 25. For example, one of its knit sets is called “Netflix and Chill.” There’s a skirt named “Internet Famous.” The brand’s followers willingly tag Fashion Nova in its selfies and “outfit of the day” posts on Instagram — and Fashion Nova engages with every customer-tagged photo, through likes, comments, and reposts. “We repost about 30 customer photos a week,” Saghian says.
3. Influencer Marketing.
Instagram influencer marketing is one of the biggest ways by which Fashion Nova has been able to grow so big in just a few years.
“We work with 3,000 to 5,000 influencers,” says Fashion Nova’s founder and CEO, Richard Saghian, via phone in his first public interview since founding the company in a storefront in California ten years ago. “It’s kind of like this ripple effect. The more people shout us out, the more their fans shout us out. Kind of like a viral YouTube video. We’re a viral store.”
Many Fashion Nova customers have mentioned that they started following the page when they saw their favorite influencers wearing the products.
4. Ultra-Fast Fashion Strategy
Fashion Nova history revolves around ultra-fast fashion. In 2018, Fashion Nova beat out top luxury fashion brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dior, and many more to become the most googled fashion brand globally. Due to the slow death of retail, people are now turning to ultra-fast fashion brands like Fashion Nova. The reason is that such brands’ outfits are easier to get.
Saghian explained that many styles were necessary because their customers loved to post online frequently. Therefore, they needed new clothes at all times. In addition, he stated that they didn’t want girls showing up at a club all sporting the same outfit. Therefore, instead of one pair of jeans, Fashion Nova created 50.
The brand can meet the speedy supply chain due to 1000 manufacturers scattered around Los Angeles. In just 48 hours, the company designs and manufactures a new product ready to wear. After 48 hours, the new items are ready for models to wear. The constant availability of new outfits is a top reason why most people keep coming back to Fashion Nova. Most of the NovaBabes don’t want to miss a single trend. Therefore, they are on the platform, scouring through new designs every day.
