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At first glance, children\u2019s apparel brand Monica + Andy looks like many other digitally-native businesses. It launched during the DTC heyday, in 2014, most of its sales are online and it\u2019s been growing and expanding sales channels every year.<\/p>\n
But the company has had an interesting trajectory that bucks many of the trends. For one, while it is a digital brand, one of the first things it did was open a store. And for the first few years, its Chicago store was the brunt of its business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t pay for a single online acquisition maybe until almost 2018,\u201d said Monica Royer, co-founder and CEO of Monica + Andy. It was there that Royer learned how to connect directly with shoppers and build a community.<\/p>\n
Another difference is that while other brands focused on growth at all costs, Monica + Andy has spent years focusing on its bottom line. \u201cThe moment that Covid started\u2026 our board was like, profitability \u2014 that is going to be the most important thing in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
These two things have helped the company grow. Today, Monica + Andy has expanded its presence into stores like Walmart and Target, and has continued to grow its online sales. It\u2019s also fostered a community of parents via in-store and virtual events, which remain core to its growth strategy. Royer joined this week\u2019s Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about her brand\u2019s trajectory.<\/p>\n
One of the early trends that Monica + Andy tapped into \u2014 without even really knowing it \u2014 was that people are looking for ways to connect with brands beyond buying things. The company has held events for years and has taken great pains to make sure it was speaking directly with its shoppers, but Royer said it wasn\u2019t considered a way to achieve growth. \u201cWe didn\u2019t realize we were onto something \u2014 we didn\u2019t realize that was an acquisition tool at the time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Monica + Andy has been honing how it uses events for the past few years. While it held many virtual events during the early days of the pandemic, it\u2019s now been focusing on a more hybrid model.<\/p>\n
It all points to a strategy of testing and learning, which Monica + Andy has taken to heart. Every year, Royer said, \u201cyou have to kind of put your ear to the ground and say: \u2018All right, how have things shifted, and what\u2019s the right mix?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are a few highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.<\/p>\n
Fostering community before it was a buzzword<\/strong> Monica + Andy\u2019s events strategy<\/strong> Royer\u2019s strategy for bringing in new talent<\/strong>
\u201cThat buzzword of community wasn\u2019t there in 2014. And so for us, the folks that were working in Monica + Andy were other parents with me. People that I had met in classes with my daughter became our photographers, ran our store. And it was very grassroots. And some of those folks are actually still with us today. Like, the person that started the store with me, and was one of the first people that was there doing it, is still somebody that builds out all of our physical retail spaces and does our packaging. So community for us was borne out of necessity, as moms that were just getting started on doing this business. And we didn\u2019t realize we were onto something \u2014 we didn\u2019t realize that was an acquisition tool at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year that goes, you have to kind of put your ear to the ground and say: \u2018All right, how have things shifted, and what\u2019s the right mix?\u2019 And it\u2019s sort of like a recipe that you\u2019re always perfecting. I think there\u2019s nothing about five years ago that worked four years ago that worked three years ago that works today. And so every year we relook at it. I definitely think that after Covid, we saw so many more people going to in-person because we were just like, let\u2019s get out, let\u2019s travel. I definitely think it\u2019s not shifting back to not being in-person. But I think there are areas where, like, if you\u2019re pregnant and you\u2019re expecting, we\u2019ve got classes in our Lincoln Park shop and our Upper West Side \u2014 and people definitely go in person, but there are a lot of people that also like to do that virtually too\u2026 So we absolutely see an appetite for those virtual classes. Sometimes they\u2019re live, sometimes they\u2019re on demand. And I think over time that\u2019ll shift and we\u2019ll continue to figure out what next year\u2019s recipe is compared to this year\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot every person that we brought in has been a home run and that\u2019s not been based on them being the wrong person. Sometimes it\u2019s just the wrong environment for success \u2014 like somebody that can do well at a big company isn\u2019t necessarily somebody that can do well at a small company. But I think part of the magic is in the mix of both together, and really honoring each type of individual and making sure that they\u2019re able to have an area in which they feel like they can perform and deliver. So that as you\u2019re bringing in the folks from the bigger companies, the people that have been here for a long time feel welcomed in. Like, hey, these are people that we can learn from. And, by the way, they can learn from us too. So I think it\u2019s this idea that people can learn from each other. That\u2019s a really important part of the culture because the people that are coming in from the big company are going to learn as much from the people that have been at Monica + Andy and have been doing it from the ground up, as we\u2019re going to learn from them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n