Case Study: Whistles
Jane Shepherdson, CEO of the British clothing brand Whistles, agrees that
there is a huge profit opportunity online as she explains "I don’t know why
you shouldn’t get the full Whistles experience online. It’s easier to do that
in a way because you can have content and editorial on the website -- you can
give the customer almost more, apart from that one-to-one service, that
style advice that [store]staff give to customers to try new looks and things.
I want to get that online." (Indvik, 2014) Shepherdson’s strategy was to drive
the majority of her business online whilst having a small physical presence in
the right places in the world, e.g. London, Paris, New York, Moscow, Hong Kong.
Whistles has been described by The Independent as "A tightly edited
wardrobe of classic pieces, the collection focuses on longevity and
quality rather than flash-in-the-pan trends." (Gonsalves, 2014) Kate
Middleton is known as one of the highest profile Whistles supporters,
she wore a Whistles blouse in her official engagement photographs and
the Bella pattern blue shift dress for the Olympics closing ceremony.
These occasions certainly raised profile for Whistles, however they
only sold out of what stock they already had. Unlike brands such
as Topshop and H&M, Whistles don’t always do huge runs of their
products, they may have only produced 150 units of the Bella dress.
Whistles’ brand values are more concerned with quality and exclusivity
than doing a huge run of an item just to take advantage of a trend.
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