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Joe’s Jeans is heavily invested in working with influencers. It’s a relationship that has to make sense to work, said Jennifer Hawkins, the brand’s svp of marketing and innovation.
“It’s not just plucking someone off a list and saying, ‘Let’s do a collaboration,'” Hawkins said on the Glossy Podcast. “It’s finding people that you organically fit with from a product standpoint and working with them.”
Hawkins talked about why she’s bullish on Instagram Checkout, why Joe’s needs a TikTok strategy and what separates a Nordstrom shopper from an Amazon one.
Here are a few highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.
People aren’t buying all that much through Instagram
“I would say that the traffic to the site is bigger than the amount of people actually checking out through Instagram. I think that’ll grow through time, just as Apple Pay has. But if you’re [shopping on Instagram] for the first time… for a Danielle Bernstein [collab], when the speed to buy is so fast because you’re worried about it selling out, unless you’ve already shopped on Instagram, you’re not one-click yet because you’re having to put in all of your information. I think once that grows and more people use it, it’ll drive more sales. For now, I wouldn’t say it’s a huge percentage, but I want to offer the checkout options our customers like to use. So if it’s Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, a pay-over-time like an Affirm or a Klarna, I want it.”
TikTok’s future in the U.S. is uncertain, but it’s still worth strategizing for it
“We really need to figure out what our TikTok strategy is, and will this move dollars in our space? Is it a lower AOV [average order value] product that is really killing it on TikTok? I just don’t know yet, and that’s something that we need to make a priority to look into.”
Different products for different points of sale
“It’s really more of a legacy play. How are we staying in business on those washes that the Saks buyer may have tired on, but that are still ringing the register on Amazon? It’s really filling the need that they have. Every channel really has a different product need, and it’s our planners and merchants who have to try to create a SKU plan that fits all of our needs. We’re 90% denim. That’s the other thing. How are we going to expand our categories beyond just denim and have lounge and other things our existing customer is looking for? Amazon probably won’t ever need that from us, but we need it for our own websites, and those are the kinds of things that some of our halo brands like a Saks or a Nordstrom are interested in.”
