each year, the Trafik Tradeshow takes place in miami, fl. Dozens of brands are showcased, creating a candy-store atmosphere for buyers and retailers. this year, our own dan and marina kogan, co-owner husband/wife team and eModa.com buyers, had the honor and pleasure of being interviewed for the Trafik Tradeshow Newsletter. check out the interview below and log on to www.trafiktradeshow.com for more details about the big event!
Give us the quick historical look at eModa. How did you start it? When? What influenced the movement into the industry?
The eModa concept began as a small boutique located on historic South Street in Philadelphia, PA in the summer months of 2003. This little boutique soon expanded to include two locations, Fusion and Europe Moda, before it eventually hit the internet. My wife, Marina, and I come from a programming background and the initial concept of the retail locations were to bring fashion that already existed in NY and Miami to Philadelphia. We never planned on moving into the fashion world, it was just an idea somehow sparked one day and has since taken over our lives.
You guys are hugely focused on the on-line side of the business. What caused your interest and energy in this arena? What is your approach on this frontier?
Our expertise is web based and we believe that the growth potential on the internet is stronger than the growth potential of a brick and mortar. We are also familiar with graphics, programming and have a good grasp on fashion. There was a gap in the market between great retailers and e-tailors in this industry. Many retailers that sell similar products do not have a web presence; we wanted to take advantage of that void while offering consumers another avenue of shopping. With an internet store like eModa every 5-10% growth can be viewed as a new store being opened up. The internet for us is a perfect marriage of our skills. Finding the best real estate/retail location is very competitive, time consuming and costly. On the other hand, a virtual store backed by great marketing can be extremely visible.
Obviously, buying approaches are defined by the style landscape of the market that a store operates in. With the web, physical borders obviously dissipate. How do you decide what to bring into inventory and stay on top of the needs of your customers?
Right now we are keeping things really simple. If we don’t wear it, we don’t expect our customers to wear it. There is no formula here for us, we just live this type of fashion and it works. It seems that across the board from LA to Europe, people like what we pick. Sometimes we buy for our customers but so far we have been leading them, not the other way around. We believe that our buyers have a good sense of what our consumers want, but more importantly we pride ourselves on setting trends rather than following them.
What are the plans moving forward for eModa?
Currently we are working hard on our current vendor selections and building a wider variety for our customers. We are also slowly adding new departments to our categories. We are working on a marketing plan that will give vendors more options on showcasing their brands on the eModa network. This is all part of a new division called “eModa Sales & Marketing” which is launching in early 08. The first part of the new division is “Sales”. We will be representing a few brands that we feel very strongly about. As we represent these brands, the brands represent eModa so we are really picky as to who we deal with. We currently have deals to represent “Laguna Beach Jean Company”, “J.Steger” and “Soul Rocket” mostly in east coast territories. We want to take the showroom business to the next level with the marketing power and reach that eModa.com can bring to a brand. We are planning on opening an official eModa Showroom in NY Spring/Summer 08 (www.eModaShowroom.com - coming soon). The “Marketing” segment of our growth quite simply actively leverages the vehicle of eModa.com and the traffic the site enjoys for higher level branding and promotional initiatives. We believe in quality brands and products that provide a lifestyle to our customer. We are excited to get more engaged with the process, and the way we see it, there’s much more in store.
