En e-butik som valt en annorlunda affärsmodell är tyska t-shirtbutiken The Hipstery. Istället för noggranna produktbeskrivningar och mängder av produktbilder har de valt att hålla sitt sortiment hemligt.
Kunden svarar på några frågor och sedan väljer The Hipstery ut vilken tröja kunden ska ha. Köparen ser inte vad hon betalat för förrän hon öppnar paketet. Affärsidén bygger på en TED-föreläsning om The Paradox of Choice.
Upphovsmännen bakom butiken är väldigt hemlighetsfulla och mystiska när de väl ger intervjuer. Vi lyckades dock fånga in dem en kväll på Paradise Business Camp förra våren och de gick med på en intervju. Humor är en stor del av deras image vilket märks i deras svar.
1. First out, for how long has The Hipstery existed and how did it become to be?
That's a funny story, to be honest I don't remember exactly where it came from. I remember a night of heavy drinking with my co-founder Budge Becher. I remember a free-wheeling discussion that started at Lost, derailed through the Mystery Box and ended up at the Paradox Of Choice. The name, the branding, even the domain was purchased/decided in that bar that very evening, I discovered slightly hungover the next morning. I just woke up, we were ready, the idea was there and we got started. I guess like all good ideas, it's a combination of many other good ideas rather than something completely original.
2. What was the biggest challenge when creating the site?
I regularly had to butt up against my own stupidity and inexperience. I'd say that was the biggest problem. As someone who can't put up a picture hook, can't prepare toast without burning it, regularly forgets what day it is, wear my clothes inside out with regularity, here I was attempting to take an idea, this thing that lived only the head of me and my pal Budge Becher, as an abstract notion. Now we were actually going to take that out of our heads somehow, where it would be reality, with all the challenges inherent in that. From getting stock, dealing with German customs, founding a business, deciding on the branding, pricing, the concept, designing the survey etc etc. It was all a massive challenge.
To be honest, looking back I have no idea how we managed it and how against all odds and popular wisdom, it sort of works. I guess we just threw everything we had at it and someone, somewhere looked kindly upon that pitiful offering and helped us out.
3. Where do you get the shirts?
In the old days we were a typical reseller. I've been a t-shirt collector and worked for t-shirt companies for years and have other simpler t-shirt websites, so I knew pretty much everybody before we started. I would hand select the finest shirts from more than 30 different t-shirt brands around the world and we'd import them to our office (my bedroom for the first six months). That was fine, but the margin was awful and it was a logistical nightmare. German customs also make bricks look flexible. I did not enjoy my regular battles with them. Slowly we've moved away from this model and now we negotiate the rights to designs directly from the designer, then print locally here in Berlin. We could never have done that in the old days, since you need a large range of designs yet can only print in minimums of 100s to make it financially viable. As the business has grown we've slowed morphed to this model as cash flow allowed.
4. You are based in Germany, is that also your biggest market?
Let me run off and pull some stats for you. Yep, Germany is our biggest at around about 37%. Next in order of size is the UK, US, Switzerland, Norway and then you lovely Swedes. Buy more already. You're not even in a medal position....In total we shipped to more than 40 countries last year.
5. How do you work with marketing?
We've been very fortunate with the viral effect of the site. From our first feature at Springwise which I contact them for, we'd bounced around the interwebs without too much effort on our part. That lead to many more press features and if someone is actually brave enough to order, you can be sure they'll tell everyone, very loudly about it. So most of our customers are referrals, Facebook is huge for us. The only paid advertising we do is via Stumble Upon.
I think in the end we'd have been dead in the water had our friend Rikard Riefenstall not joined the project from the outset as our Graphic Designer. I knew what I wanted to say and I could see the brand in my head, but without his numerous talents there would have been no way to articulate any of that so that people would have listened. Not only listened, but actually shared the message again.
6. What is a typical Hipstery customer? Age/gender?
He is a prince amongst men. When he walks the street, other Men doff their hats in a display of inferiority. Women blush as they meet his magnetic gaze. He most likely smokes a pipe. He is afraid of the future. Okay enough of that...
It's about a 60/40 split between Men and Womenfolk. Age we've had as low as 6 and as high as 79. But I'd suspect the average sits snuggly at 28.125.
7. You had a store in Berlin where people could buy stuff. Tell us about it, how did it work and is it still open?
Oh boy, I believe you are referring to our Emporium of Curiosities. It's up there with the chocolate tea pot or the baby mop in the idea stakes. Basically it was a store in which every single product remained a mystery. Customers knew we had mystery t-shirts, books, drinks, chocolate, music etc, only they didn't get to see exactly what. We had an offline version of the Hipstery survey, which you took and then were consulted by our scientists who would walk you around the shop and make recommendations based on your answers. On each product was a cryptic description that you read to seduce yourself in purchasing.
I still attest to the quality of the idea and the wider perils of choice, but sadly this one was too ahead of its time. It lasted only three short months before the reality of store operation and the long hours forced us to take a very long holiday to Thailand, where we happened to bump into your good self Mr Friskopp, one late night. I still don't understand what you were doing to that Guinea Pig, but perhaps let's leave that subject for now.
9. In an earlier interview, you mentioned that your return percentage is 2%. Is it still that number and what is the most common reason for a return?
It's a little higher now, I think in that interview we were a much smaller business, with mostly repeat customers who knew their sizing particulars to precision. Now it's 3 to 4%, the most common problem is with women. I will resist, narrowly, making any jokes about that last sentence. mens bodies are tediously straight, flat and boring. We all know our size and it doesn't really fluctuate. It's much more problematic for women to get their size right, especially when we have shirts printed on many different blank t-shirts, varying in style and cut. That's out most common issue. Our refund rate is almost non-existant, well below 1%, maybe below 0.5% I didn't calcluate it lately, which attests to how little sleep it loses me.
10. Do you have many returning customers?
Yes, I think our best customer has ordered 17 times. But we've many that have more than 10 orders under their belt. Or over their belt would be more apt I guess, for a t-shirt business. The challenge we have is in varying the experience enough that people keep coming back. While the shirt and questions are different, we need to work harder at varying up everything else to keep people returning to our loving embrace.
11. In a marketing video (posted on facebook) you present The Hipstery as the perfect gift idea (at least for simpletons), are people looking for gifts the most common customer?
That would be this video. Not at present. It's a large percentage, maybe 40% order for someone else. The video reflects that as a gift solution we really solve a specific issue and wanted to highlight that. I expect that 40% figure to rise and when we introduce new products we'll be aiming specific at gift solutions, since I think that is where a larger market exists for our particular talents.
12. What will happen with the The Hipstery in the future?
That's a good question. My fear is that possibly the market for mystery wares is, sadly, too niche for us to grow much larger without colossal effort. So my new focus is to keep our style of branding and humourous witticism, but combine them into standardised products (examples here) that could be sold anywhere, by anyone, most importantly not by me. I plan to nap more.
13. Are you working on any other projects at the moment?
Yes, I've just finished a book of short comedy stories that I know my mother is very excited about. It'll be released sometime in March and it's called A Picnic For Perverts.
Thanks for your time and I wish everyone at/reading Ehandel.se every success in your ventures. Should you achieve that success please come and buy us, I need another holiday.
Dr W
Red. Denna artikel är handgjord med kärlek av Tore Friskopp, författare av boken Sagor från verkligheten. Förhoppningsvis kommer ni att få läsa fler artiklar av Tore framöver. Dvs om ni gillar denna 🙂 /Julius Gunnilstam
