And so much more!!
Additional reading:
“Hotel booking sites show higher prices to travelers from Bay Area,” Keith A. Spencer, SFGate.
FTC Surveillance Pricing Study Indicates Wide Range of Personal Data Used to Set Individualized Consumer Prices
“On Orbitz, Mac Users Steered to Pricier Hotels,” Dana Mattioli, Wall Street Journal.
“Businesses can use your online data to overcharge you. What can customers do?” Adrian Ma, NPR.
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By the late 2000s, Urban Outfitters had a problem: was it still cool? Or more importantly, did millennials no longer think it was cool? In the early 00s, when I was working as a sales associate in the Portland, Oregon store, the company was practically printing its own money:
There was never a time of day when the Portland store wasn’t busy…but then things began to slow down in the latter half of the 2000s. The company had opened stores in (gasp) malls, and it had opened a LOT of stores. And there was more competition from both American Apparel and the massive explosion of the “original” fast fashion companies like Forever 21, H+M, and Zara. They sold very similar clothes at a quarter of the price (and TBH the quality wasn’t much worse, if not the same).
The Urban Outfitters stores felt different in the late 00s. Not because they looked much different. And the product filling the stores was still hyper trendy and mostly low quality. But the customers in the stores were different. There were less of them…and suddenly they seemed a lot younger. Like…tween and teenager young.
A group of “cool” employees were chosen to participate in intense brainstorming sessions about how the company could become “cool” again. I was chosen to be a part of this “hipster task force,” possibly because I am really cool or maybe just because I had come from Portland, I still dared to (poorly) cut my own bangs, and I wore primarily weird vintage clothes. It’s hard to say. Most of my work friends worked in the mailroom and we got together every Wednesday night to smoke weed and watch Lost. So I’m not sure how cool I was in the eyes of Urban Outfitters.
Anyway, we would sit in these meetings trying to figure out how to get “our” customer to come back. The ideas were cool: do art shows, partner with more indie brands, throw our own music festival, get bands to play in store, give customers more diy opportunities, partner with bloggers…and to be fair, a lot of these really did become a reality in one way or another. We even let the Cobrasnake shoot a special holiday shoe catalog.
But even as I sat in those meetings getting hyped on all of the ideas people were putting out there, I felt that there was an elephant in the room that nobody was talking about (but everyone knew): the person we thought was our core customer was not in fact the person showing up to buy ass blow out jeans and Jesus is my homeboy shirts.
Scattered throughout the departments of the massive building we worked out of in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, there were literal hardbound books that were devoted to profiling the Urban Outfitters customer. Where they lived, what they did, what they liked, etc. Every brand in that era had similar books (if they knew what they were doing…and had the budget to get it hardbound). We all knew our customer as if they were real people we knew, or at least reminded us of someone we knew. All of us in buying, design, and the art department were in our 20s and 30s…and the customers in that hardbound book were archetypes of our friends and acquaintances.
Here’s who our customer was:
Every decision we made in terms of product assortment, in store merchandising, brand collaborations, marketing, even the music we played in the store…it was all based on this customer!
The problem with this customer: they rarely shopped at Urban Outfitters.
Because here was the real customer, the core customer actually spending money at Urban Outfitters:
How this went awry: Buying into items that were too expensive for the actual customer, developing product that wasn’t in line with the actual customer’s lifestyle, things were often too fashion forward (basics and graphic tees sold better).
Ultimately, planning an entire business around this “aspirational” customer, versus the actual person showing up to buy stuff was a problem. And it felt like we weren’t allowed to talk about it. And many of us thought that maybe continuing to target this pretend “ideal” customer was what was making the entire brand more appealing to the actual customers.
I don’t know. Because once again, here we were being paid to brainstorm how to make Urban Outfitters cool again, ostensibly to get more of those aspirational ADULT customers back in the store.
Every place I have worked has always said “we are obsessed with our customer.” And by the time I was at Nasty Gal, we literally had a “mission statement” about helping our customers live their best lives. And to be fair, without the customers and their wallets, there is no business, right? So it DOES behoove any brand to really, really understand who their customers are. Before the internet, streaming television, and a million different subcultures, there really was a monoculture, where most people kinda bought the same things, all while watching the same television shows and listening to music on the radio. No one needed to know too much about their customers, except for maybe where they lived and how much money they had. Having their address was handy so you could send them catalogs in the mail. But otherwise, no one was sitting around trying to figure out whether their customer preferred The Faint or Death Cab for Cutie. Remember, before online shopping, businesses kinda had a captive audience: people bought what was available to them locally. Maybe they occasionally drove to the big city or at least a bigger mall to see some other options. But that was it. It was so much easier to sell stuff without doing too much digging into your customer’s psyche.
But the rise of the internet and emotional branding changed all of that. It’s no wonder that the first section of Marc Gobe’s book Emotional Branding (The Flowers in the Attic of marketing and branding in the 21st century) is called “It’s the 21st century: do you know where your customers are?” Remember, the whole goal of emotional branding is selling without seeming like you’re selling. Of building that emotional connection with your customer that leads to loyalty and recurring purchases. Maybe even fights with strangers on social media in your honor. And to know how to create that emotional relationship, you have to really, really understand who your customer really is. As Gobe wrote, “People want to deal with corporations that are responsive and unique to their needs.” Basically: a company that knows very specifically who their customer is can cater precisely to them, even marketing to them in a way that feels so personal (even though it’s not), that it feels like an authentic relationship (even though it’s not).
On the topic of selling to women, Gobe said that women wanted the following things as consumers:
And listen, while a lot of this sounds kind of hokey, the reality is that when I am teaching small business owners about understanding their customer, I really am telling that they need to know A LOT about their customer to succeed:
In fact, when I am teaching this to small business owners, I actually make them do a whole homework assignment where they outline the answers to these questions. I show them how to use social media and surveys to find the answers to these questions.
Now interestingly enough, every time I ask someone who their customer is, they usually answer “everyone.” Which is…the wrong answer.
There is no brand where “‘everyone” is the customer. Sure, anyone could buy something from any business at any time. There is no discrimination here. But every brand DOES have a core customer segment that is driving most of the sales. And that core customer group shares many, many characteristics. It’s important to understand them in order to reach them and offer product that they want to buy.
Even huge companies don’t have “everyone” as a customer.
While “everyone” could buy something from a brand at some point, the true customer–and focus–should be the loyal, recurring customer. There is no business where “everyone” is the customer.
A case study of a place “everyone” shops…Amazon!
Why it would seem like Amazon is a place for “everyone” to shop:
But then again…only about 80% of American households have a Prime account (which would imply that not “everyone” shops there. Who might not be a customer:
Amazon is marketing heavily in two ways: convenience and value/low prices. But if Amazon truly could have “everyone” as its customer, it would have to start addressing the issues I just talked about. But with a society more divided than ever, there is no way that any brand could ever reach everyone. Look at Target: it made a clear decision when it dropped its DEI initiatives. It decided that customers who were anti-DEI were a more lucrative base for them, worth alienating customers who do care about issues of systemic racism and discrimination. Was that a good choice? Sales data seems to indicate otherwise.
Making that emotional connection with your customer…selling without selling…that means really understanding your customer. Anticipating what they want before they even know it. Speaking to them about the things that matter to them in a way that speaks directly to them in the voice they want to hear. And yes, there is a mixture of art and science to it.
In the 2000s and 2010s, big brands had teams that worked on this kind of stuff (often part of the marketing team) who looked through data, led focus groups, created surveys, and even just hung out in stores watching customers shop. Every employee who was remotely involved with product, merchandising, and marketing had to know these details very well to succeed at their jobs. And it was pretty normal to interview with new companies and be forced to answer the question “who do you think our customer is?” Maybe spend 10-20 hours creating a project for the interview process that proved that you understood this customer.
How brands do and do not understand their customer has changed a lot in the last decade, thanks to social media, browsing data, and so much more. Now it’s almost less about “emotional understanding” and more about…knowing you as well as you know yourself. And today we are going to talk all about that. Buckle up kids, because it gets a little dark.
Thank you so much to Kim for spending some time with us. She did a much better job explaining how it works than I ever could have, so I’m super grateful that she agreed to help us out! Something that really strikes me about all of this: before the internet and shopping online and social media…companies had to invest a lot of money and time into understanding who their customer was. Now, they might be investing the same amount of money, but they don’t actually know anything about their customers because someone else (aka Meta, TikTok, Google, etc) is handling it for them…without actually giving them access to the information. And they don’t have to work as hard to create that emotional connection with their customers…because the algorithm already knows the customer’s emotional state and when to best target them. So it’s almost like, RIP emotional branding? And hello…predictive analytics using all of your very private data? Well maybe not completely yet. After all, there are brands that rely pretty much entirely on IRL shopping (TJ Maxx is a great example) so while they might want your data to figure out where to open the next new store or what brands you really like to shop, they still have to work a little harder to get you in the door by getting you all juiced up as a Maxxinista. But for companies that exist entirely online (or who get a vast majority of their revenue online), their success relies on access to your data.
So as I mentioned in our convo, one newly emerging problem with our massive data trails is…surveillance pricing. Or as proponents of it like to call it “personalized pricing.” Yeah, that doesn’t really sound much better, right?
So what is surveillance pricing? Online retailers (and that includes airlines, travel booking sites, really anything that you can buy online) adjust prices specifically for you based on data they have collected about you. That includes browsing history, location, purchase history, and more. For example, you could search “funeral arrangements” and then next start looking at plane tickets, and the airfare will be higher because the airline knows that you can’t really shop around. In another very real life example, Target was using customers’ location (via their phone)…and raising prices on items online to be higher than the in-store prices as customers got closer to the store, in hopes of discouraging them from ordering online. That might seem kinda harmless, but just the fact that the technology exists that allows Target–someone who is not your friend, or even a person–to know where you are…well, that’s pretty scary, right?
Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a preliminary report about surveillance pricing. And it’s pretty wild. Like, companies even have access to our mouse movements and our abandoned carts to figure out how to sell to us (and price appropriately).
Since then, there has been a lot more conversation about surveillance pricing. For example, a February investigation by SF Gate writer Keith Spencer, found that when he was looking at hotel rooms using different browsers and geographical locations, he found major differences in pricing. Specifically: prices offered when browsing from Bay Area locations were higher than they were when browsing from less affluent cities like Phoenix and Kansas City…for the same hotel rooms! At one point the same hotel room in Manhattan cost $500 more when browsing in the Bay Area.
How did he do this? He used different IP addresses (with different geographical locations associated with them), along with different devices and browsers. He did all of this testing in the same two-hour span, searching for hotel rooms for the same place and the same time (Valentine’s Day weekend in NYC).
The other thing I learned from this piece (which I’m going to share in the show notes)? While we think there are many different options out there for booking travel online, we’re kinda just dealing with two conglomerates. As Spencer explains, “Two travel companies dominate the online travel agent industry: Expedia Group and Booking Holdings. Booking Holdings owns Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak, while Expedia Group owns Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotels.com and has a majority stake in Trivago.”
Now the travel thing doesn’t necessarily surprise me. Back in 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported that Orbitz had realized that Mac users were more likely to book more expensive hotels, so they began to put the nicer boutique hotels at the top of the search results when a customer was using a Mac. Back then, everyone thought it was a genius move. And in comparison to the price shifts found by Keith Spencer, it does feel kinda innocent.
This summer Delta Airlines bragged that it was implementing AI to create “personalized pricing” for customers. The company told investors that this AI pricing would mean that they no longer had to price match other airlines…and instead the company would use data to predict how much a customer was willing to pay, which would bring in billions of dollars in extra revenue. Of course, after news broke about this, the airline backpedaled, saying that it would just make pricing more efficient and “personalized.”
Back in August, literally on my birthday, NPR’s Weekend Edition aired a segment about surveillance pricing that really got me thinking…and I knew I had to include it in this series. Reporter Adrian Ma talked to Sam Levine, former director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. I will share a link to listen for yourself (it’s only five minutes), but here’s something that Levine said that really stuck with me:
Ma asked him, “What would you say to some people who are a little skeptical that surveillance pricing really is the problem that people like yourself say it is?”
And Levine responded, “ Well, companies are certainly telling lawmakers that surveillance pricing is nothing to worry about, that it’s all about discounts, that this is all about consumers saving money. But that’s not what they’re telling investors, and it’s not what high-priced pricing consultants are telling companies. You know, the reality is companies innately are in the business of making money. They are not going to use expensive, sophisticated technology to lower prices on people.”
He’s right. Access to our data and the technology that processes it is expensive. And that means it has to be worth using. We already see that advertising on social media platforms is worth the cost because the data steers customers almost directly to checkout, targeting us before we have even said anything out loud about buying something. These platforms know us better than anyone in our lives because they see the desire for something emerging when it’s barely a thought to us. Imagine if the price could also change as we became more committed to making the purchase.
So what can we do to protect ourselves from our data being used to sell us stuff? There are things that might help (particularly with the pricing aspect of it):
If you’re freaking out right now and thinking about throwing all of your devices in the river…take a deep breath. Think about Flowers in the Attic. How old were you when you realized that book was about incest? I was like 30.
I think Levine gave some good advice in his NPR interview:
“Unfortunately, this is not an issue where consumers can protect themselves. The fact of the matter is, you know, people can take steps to better protect their privacy online. They can limit what they share. They can be mindful of what apps they download. But most of us rely on using digital services, and there’s a whole market run by data brokers that has profiles on just about every single American these companies can use in order to set prices. So there’s really not much that individual consumers can do. This really requires a response by policymakers.”
He went on to say that while it seems unlikely that the federal government here in the US will do anything about it, states can regulate this kind of thing. Europe is already doing a lot of regulation around consumer data. Other countries will hopefully follow. But it doesn’t happen if we don’t ask for it, which is where being a concerned (and annoying) citizen comes into play: call your representatives. Tell them how you feel about this.
If you’re looking to minimize your data sharing, there are a few things you can do:
But ultimately, the genie is out of the bottle on this. I don’t think that you need to quit social media or give up internet access. But what you do need to do is recognize that yeah, there are companies out there that know everything about you. Forget about emotional branding, this is like emotional surveillance, right? And it’s no coincidence that certain ads are showing up in your feed. When you know that, it makes it a little easier to resist them. To give things more thought. To maybe just keep scrolling past it. And that’s the whole point of this series: to shine a very bright light on the mechanisms that are keeping us shopping and loyal to brands. With knowledge, comes change.
If you want to share your opinion/additional thoughts on the subjects we cover in each episode, feel free to email, whether it’s a typed out message or an audio recording: [email protected]
Slow Fashion Academy is a size-inclusive sewing and patternmaking studio based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designer and fashion professor Ruby Gertz teaches workshops for hobbyists and aspiring designers, so that anyone can learn the foundational skills of making, mending, and altering their own clothes. Ruby also provides professional design and patternmaking services to emerging slow fashion brands, and occasionally takes commissions for custom garments and costume pieces. She has also released several PDF sewing patterns for original designs under her brands Spokes & Stitches, and Starling Petite Plus. Check the schedule for upcoming workshops, download PDF sewing patterns, and learn about additional sewing and design services at www.slowfashion.academy.
Thumbprint is Detroit’s only fair trade marketplace, located in the historic Eastern Market. Our small business specializes in products handmade by empowered women in South Africa making a living wage creating things they love like hand painted candles and ceramics! We also carry a curated assortment of sustainable/natural locally made goods. Thumbprint is a great gift destination for both the special people in your life and for yourself! Browse our online store at thumbprintdetroit.com and find us on instagram @thumbprintdetroit.
Picnicwear: a slow fashion brand, ethically made by hand from vintage and deadstock materials – most notably, vintage towels! Founder, Dani, has worked in the industry as a fashion designer for over 10 years, but started Picnicwear in response to her dissatisfaction with the industry’s shortcomings. Picnicwear recently moved to rural North Carolina where all their clothing and accessories are now designed and cut, but the majority of their sewing is done by skilled garment workers in NYC. Their customers take comfort in knowing that all their sewists are paid well above NYC minimum wage. Picnicwear offers minimal waste and maximum authenticity: Future Vintage over future garbage.
Shift Clothing, out of beautiful Astoria, Oregon, with a focus on natural fibers, simple hardworking designs, and putting fat people first. Discover more at shiftwheeler.com
High Energy Vintage is a fun and funky vintage shop located in Somerville, MA, just a few minutes away from downtown Boston. They offer a highly curated selection of bright and colorful clothing and accessories from the 1940s-1990s for people of all genders. Husband-and-wife duo Wiley & Jessamy handpick each piece for quality and style, with a focus on pieces that transcend trends and will find a home in your closet for many years to come! In addition to clothing, the shop also features a large selection of vintage vinyl and old school video games. Find them on instagram @ highenergyvintage, online at highenergyvintage.com, and at markets in and around Boston.
St. Evens is an NYC-based vintage shop that is dedicated to bringing you those special pieces you’ll reach for again and again. More than just a store, St. Evens is dedicated to sharing the stories and history behind the garments. 10% of all sales are donated to a different charitable organization each month. New vintage is released every Thursday at wearStEvens.com, with previews of new pieces and more brought to you on Instagram at @wear_st.evens.
Deco Denim is a startup based out of San Francisco, selling clothing and accessories that are sustainable, gender fluid, size inclusive and high quality–made to last for years to come. Deco Denim is trying to change the way you think about buying clothes. Founder Sarah Mattes wants to empower people to ask important questions like, “Where was this made? Was this garment made ethically? Is this fabric made of plastic? Can this garment be upcycled and if not, can it be recycled?” Signup at decodenim.com to receive $20 off your first purchase. They promise not to spam you and send out no more than 3 emails a month, with 2 of them surrounding education or a personal note from the Founder. Find them on Instagram as @deco.denim.
The Pewter Thimble Is there a little bit of Italy in your soul? Are you an enthusiast of pre-loved decor and accessories? Bring vintage Italian style — and history — into your space with The Pewter Thimble (@thepewterthimble). We source useful and beautiful things, and mend them where needed. We also find gorgeous illustrations, and make them print-worthy. Tarot cards, tea towels and handpicked treasures, available to you from the comfort of your own home. Responsibly sourced from across Rome, lovingly renewed by fairly paid artists and artisans, with something for every budget. Discover more at thepewterthimble.com
Blank Cass, or Blanket Coats by Cass, is focused on restoring, renewing, and reviving the history held within vintage and heirloom textiles. By embodying and transferring the love, craft, and energy that is original to each vintage textile into a new garment, I hope we can reteach ourselves to care for and mend what we have and make it last. Blank Cass lives on Instagram @blank_cass and a website will be launched soon at blankcass.com.
Vagabond Vintage DTLV is a vintage clothing, accessories & decor reselling business based in Downtown Las Vegas. Not only do we sell in Las Vegas, but we are also located throughout resale markets in San Francisco as well as at a curated boutique called Lux and Ivy located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jessica, the founder & owner of Vagabond Vintage DTLV, recently opened the first IRL location located in the Arts District of Downtown Las Vegas on August 5th. The shop has a strong emphasis on 60s & 70s garments, single stitch tee shirts & dreamy loungewear. Follow them on instagram, @vagabondvintage.dtlv and keep an eye out for their website coming fall of 2022.
Country Feedback is a mom & pop record shop in Tarboro, North Carolina. They specialize in used rock, country, and soul and offer affordable vintage clothing and housewares. Do you have used records you want to sell? Country Feedback wants to buy them! Find us on Instagram @countryfeedbackvintageandvinyl or head downeast and visit our brick and mortar. All are welcome at this inclusive and family-friendly record shop in the country!
Located in Whistler, Canada, Velvet Underground is a “velvet jungle” full of vintage and second-hand clothes, plants, a vegan cafe and lots of rad products from other small sustainable businesses. Our mission is to create a brand and community dedicated to promoting self-expression, as well as educating and inspiring a more sustainable and conscious lifestyle both for the people and the planet. Find us on Instagram @shop_velvetunderground or online at www.shopvelvetunderground.com
Selina Sanders, a social impact brand that specializes in up-cycled clothing, using only reclaimed, vintage or thrifted materials: from tea towels, linens, blankets and quilts. Sustainably crafted in Los Angeles, each piece is designed to last in one’s closet for generations to come. Maximum Style; Minimal Carbon Footprint.
Salt Hats: purveyors of truly sustainable hats. Hand blocked, sewn and embellished in Detroit, Michigan.
Republica Unicornia Yarns: Hand-Dyed Yarn and notions for the color-obsessed. Made with love and some swearing in fabulous Atlanta, Georgia by Head Yarn Wench Kathleen. Get ready for rainbows with a side of Giving A Damn! Republica Unicornia is all about making your own magic using small-batch, responsibly sourced, hand-dyed yarns and thoughtfully made notions. Slow fashion all the way down and discover the joy of creating your very own beautiful hand knit, crocheted, or woven pieces. Find us on Instagram @republica_unicornia_yarns and at www.republicaunicornia.com.
Cute Little Ruin is an online shop dedicated to providing quality vintage and secondhand clothing, vinyl, and home items in a wide range of styles and price points. If it’s ethical and legal, we try to find a new home for it! Vintage style with progressive values. Find us on Instagram at @CuteLittleRuin.
