Talbots is making great strides to become a cult brand for women between the ages of 45 to 65 years old and right now it is focusing on reclaiming its brand DNA and sense of style.
Deb Cavanagh, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Talbots, said during the NEMOA’s directxchange, in late 2012 the brand set out to look for the truth and with that, the brand learned some lessons.
Be Who You Are: Talbots made a choice to be who they are and who they serve. Telling their story helped anchor the organization.
“Be who you are and embrace it, but innovate,” said Cavanagh.
Cavanagh said Talbots made a commitment to offer women a range of sizes and silhouettes.
“We put customers first in everything we do, we strive to win her heart in every way,” said Cavanagh. “Her values are our values.”
It’s Her World and We’re Just Living in It: She is the center of our solar system. It’s about interacting in the store, on the mobile devices, in the call center among other channels.
“We looked at the catalog as a place of transaction, to her the catalog is a place of imagination, the catalog we got to look at as an editorial platform,” said Cavanagh.
Cavanagh said the brand is active on all channels and their obligation is to inspire, inform and engage the customer.
Stand for Something in Order to Stand Apart: Talbots connects with their customer’s values. In March of 2015, the brand launched its ecommerce platform.
“We know we can build a relationship with our customer,” said Cavanagh.
Be Your Own Modern Classic: For Talbots, the catalog is an opportunity to be an oasis of engagement. Talbot customers come into the store with sticky notes, dog-eared using it as part of the experience.
Other channels the brand uses is social media, Facebook primarily and mobile. Talbots is where the customer is. The brand will engage women to spend more with them and reengage with those customers that were lost.
“It is important we do remain consistent,” said Cavanagh.
Their customer service is one social media and in-store. The brand makes a conscious effort to work closely with the customer service team to respond in real-time.
“We’re good at showing, but we haven’t gotten to the place of implying techniques with social,” said Cavanagh.
Daniela ForteisMultichannel Merchant’sAssociate Editor.
