Nordstrom partners with Rent the Runway

Rent the Runway is one of the most profitable fashion businesses in the game right now. Between their 337 million dollars in funding and their 1 billion dollar valuation, the spotlight is shining on them. The company might have an impressive list of things to tout off, but their physical retail presence is still lacking. This is where Nordstrom comes in.

Beginning this week, Nordstrom has installed kiosks where customers can drop off their Rent the Runway purchases in all three Los Angeles locations and their location in The Grove. This expands Rent the Runway's drop-off network, which also includes WeWorks. Rent the Runway also plans to eventually roll out the option for customers to pick up at these locations.

While it seems oxymoronic that a company about renting clothes would partner with one trying to sell clothes, Nordstrom sees this new partnership as highly beneficial to their business.

"We both agree and are aligned in the fact that pickup, drop-off, styling and fit are important services to customers and, at our scale, we obviously offer an opportunity for Rent the Runway to offer those services to their customers," Shea Jensen, Nordstrom's SVP of customer experience, said to Fashionista. "Nordstrom is a company that we look up to that is hyper-focused and singularly focused on service and I think that's something we really are focused on at Rent the Runway as well," adds Maureen Sullivan, Rent the Runway's chief operating officer."

As brick-and-mortar retail works to compete with ecommerce, Nordstrom is trying to facilitate new ways to drive business. This fall, they plan opening a women's store in New York City, following the opening of their men's flagship in spring of 2018. With Rent the Runway's continuous growth, they could prove to be a smart retail partner.

photo: via PR Newswire