Revolve co-founders spill their e-commerce success at WWD Fashion Forum

Co-founders Michael Mente and Mike Karanikolas of Revolve Clothing recently announced their key secrets to creating and sustaining a successful e-commerce brand. At the WWD Fashion Forum in downtown Las Vegas, the prosperous co-founders were able to offer value insight on the e-tailer’s business model.

In the fashion forum, Karanikolas covered topics on how to successfully build and run an e-commerce company. This year, the brand is set to reach 400 million dollars in sales. The tips that Karanikolas talked about in the forum included having a solid business model and also hiring employees that have impressive experience in business. In the conclusion, Karanikolas focused on the most important aspect of any e-commerce brand: the consumer. Aiming towards the millennial-minded customer, Mente and Karanikolas built a brand that reflects millennial style. “We look at a Millennial customer not as a demographic, but a mind-set,” said Mente. The brand prides itself on having unique, fresh pieces that express individuality for its customers. That uniqueness came the company’s recent acquisition of Alliance Apparel Group earlier this year. The acquisition also involved bringing in new brands under the Revolve label. Brands that joined the e-commerce site included Lovers + Friends, Tularosa, and NBD.

Karanikolas and Mente also touch on the importance of having a great product to be successful. Instead of focusing too much on content, the co-founders explained that the product is key. “The key to retaining a customer is to provide them with great product,” said Karanikolas. He went on to state that content can help “enhance the experience,” but that ultimately the product will speak for itself. Mente also touched on this subject bringing up the fact that Elyse Walker also started to focus less on content-heavy material for its e-commerce site.

Ultimately the company has grown into a successful e-tailer from its establishment in 2003. Revolve currently has a collection of over 500 emerging brands in women’s and men’s designer apparel, shoes, and accessories. The Los Angeles-based company currently has a company size under 500 employees. The brand is sold at retailers such as Nordstrom and Shopbop as well as its e-commerce site. Combined with Alliance Apparel, the fashion lines have a projected gross sales of 18 million dollars for this year, according to the company.