Last December VOGUE.COM UK hosted a week of special content and exclusives in conjunction with online fashion and luxury retailers. We caught up with Editor Dolly Jones to discuss her brainchild, Online Fashion Week, and to find out if it will be back in 2012.
- “Thrilled” to see Online Fashion Week trending on Twitter
- Visitor reaction was “really positive”
- “Retailers made great sales that week”
- Proactive retailers “win” during Online Fashion Week
Online Fashion Week trended on Twitter on launch day. Was that a surprise?
We hoped it might – we knew there was a big buzz about it – but we were thrilled that it went on all day.
Where did the idea for Online Fashion Week come from?
The success of Fashion’s Night In in November 2010 made me realise what potential it had – we work with so many brands trying to develop their online businesses; we wanted to do something that would support them and celebrate the development of the online fashion industry.
The week long event took place in December, but when did planning begin?
January 2011 – but we really got going with planning the build in March after Paris Fashion Week and then with the reality of the event after Paris in October.
What reaction have you had from your visitors?
Really positive – it was a whirlwind of a week. We’re looking forward to making the event even better next year. Some people wanted more editorial so we’ll take that in account too.
And what reaction have you had from retailers involved?
In general it’s been hugely positive because as a concept it was so welcome. Some retailers made great sales that week, whereas others just got their brand profile out there. Others were disappointed with a lack of sales – we’re trying to take all the results into account so we can refine the event.
How do you balance giving campaign prominence to independents as well as well-known brands/retailers?
We’re trying to entertain our consumers as much as we can – first and foremost we’re a consumer website so the users have to come first. Having said that, our users want us to inform them about new and interesting independents as well as activity relating to the big global brands so we have to balance it so that we can support both.
It’s meant to celebrate inclusivity and there is more we can do to refine the process I think. There are so many hundreds of retailers out there and we need to provide the best window onto the world of e-commerce without inundating the users.
Do you think some retailers maximised being involved more than others?
Definitely. Some planned their activity well and also their communication with us well so that we could help them as much as possible. Being proactive on both counts is the way to win during Online Fashion Week – we try to work with as many businesses as possible on it and there are so many of them, it helps if they try to make it easy for us to help them.
Is there a plan for Online Fashion Week in 2012?
Yes.
What will you do differently in 2012?
I hope we’ll make it easier for the retailers to understand what they can do to help themselves gain greater sales and brand profile from it. I hope we’ll include more editorial to entertain the users that will in turn tempt them to buy even more. As I say, we’re taking all the feedback on board – it was our first event of this kind at this scale and it was a big success, but we try to improve things every time we do anything – it has brilliant potential I think.
