{"id":652153,"date":"2013-04-12T15:00:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T19:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=624986"},"modified":"2013-04-12T15:00:24","modified_gmt":"2013-04-12T19:00:24","slug":"why-a-warby-parker-flagship-retail-store-is-a-big-moment-for-online-brands-co-founder-on-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/652153","title":{"rendered":"Why a Warby Parker flagship retail store is a big moment for online brands + Co-founder on video"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago when I floated the idea<\/a> that Amazon would one day experiment with the idea of a retail store in order to project the Amazon experience<\/a>, it was universally ridiculed. I am still standing behind that idea, especially now that Amazon has created a slew of Amazon-branded products: Kindles of many types, possibly a phone sometime in the future, Amazon video and music services and most importantly Amazon publishing. Google might be eying a move into<\/a> brick and mortar store, too. This show-rooming trend is going to gather momentum in years to come<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while Jeff Bezos thinks about the retail experience<\/a>, some of the younger, more nimble and fashionable online brands are ready to experiment. The first one \u2014 Warby Parker, the online eyewear company that is challenging the existing giant Luxotica, which has started copying Warby\u2019s online tactics for its brands like Lenscrafters. The upstarts from New York are not taking it lying down and have just opened their first physical flagship store (beyond its showrooms) at 121 Greene Street in Soho district of New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NeilBlumenthal\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t just another retail store, co-founder Neil Blumenthal told us in a conversation a couple of weeks ago. Instead, the company is using sensors, Wi-Fi and other new technologies to understand how people use their retail space and take that data and marry it with their online sales trends and other information. As a result they can come up with unique business trends, that not only lead to more interesting pricing models but also help give its design and sales teams vital intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very clear to us who we are,\u201d\u00a0Blumenthal said. \u201cWe are a lifestyle brand that sells chiefly to consumer. It is a hundred year old concept and we use the same traditional metrics, because there isn\u2019t really any fiddling with the business model.\u201d So how should one value Warby Parker? How about like Michael Kors, Blumenthal countered. (The stock market places a value of $11.4 billion on Michael Kors fashions, about 22 times next year\u2019s ending March 31, 2014, earnings of $2.45 a share, or 4 time sales of about $2.83 billion.)<\/p>\n

Warby Parker wants to go where no online brand has gone before \u2014 toe-to-toe with off-line brands. And while the business might be traditional, there is nothing traditional about the Warby Parker approach.\u00a0The company is slowly bulking up its data group and now with three years of data plus a deeply ingrained design aesthetic, Warby Parker can do things non-Internet native companies like Luxotica can\u2019t do \u2014 just yet. (It is one of the reasons we love these guys and invited them to speak at our RoadMap conference in 2012<\/a>, where the company first talked about its offline-online philosophy. To learn more about RoadMap 2013 see here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Warby Parker is building the next generation retail experience for a quantified society, one that marries the digital and the physical, data and emotion. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised that 121 Greene becomes the destination for offline companies looking to think differently.<\/p>\n

Neil is convinced we are going to see more brands jump from online to offline, giving the old guard some serious headaches. I agree with him and if I wasn\u2019t in love with what I do, I would be building such a business.\u00a0Blumenthal who recently raised a boatload of money and signed up folks like J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler, feels that the recent trend of venture capitalists backing away from commerce is just plain silly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore people are talking online today than yesterday,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a lot of money to be made in e-commerce and we are a company that is going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is my video conversation with Neil, captured on my RX-1 without the help of a mike. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

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\"Ooyala<\/a>
Watch this video for free<\/a> on GigaOM<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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