Re:What the SATs Taught Us about Finding the Perfect Fit
by gumby on Thursday December 14, 2017 @11:24AM
(#15923494)
I'm not in B2C or really any consumer play, and haven't looked at SF closely. But: I assume it's an execution play.
Anybody can sell their books and electronics online (well, they could before Amazon started, yet amazon exceeded). Anybody can make clothes, yet Inditex is a monster. And why is there more than one restaurant. SF's claim is that their tech is a differentiator, and they are a tech company (unlike, say, Target or Blue Nile).
There are a couple of thoughts about "in store brand": their business plan may have required tighter control and visibility into the dimensions and materials of their product (dimension for the reasons discussed in the article and its footnotes; material because stuff that is tried on not in store and returned may need to be more durable, I don't know). It makes the plan more complex, but perhaps improves execution enough that it's worth the expense.
In the long run, if they really have a tech advantage they have the option of expanding beyond just in-house product or simply splitting into sub brands, or both.
Anybody can sell their books and electronics online (well, they could before Amazon started, yet amazon exceeded). Anybody can make clothes, yet Inditex is a monster. And why is there more than one restaurant. SF's claim is that their tech is a differentiator, and they are a tech company (unlike, say, Target or Blue Nile).
There are a couple of thoughts about "in store brand": their business plan may have required tighter control and visibility into the dimensions and materials of their product (dimension for the reasons discussed in the article and its footnotes; material because stuff that is tried on not in store and returned may need to be more durable, I don't know). It makes the plan more complex, but perhaps improves execution enough that it's worth the expense.
In the long run, if they really have a tech advantage they have the option of expanding beyond just in-house product or simply splitting into sub brands, or both.