Bloggers Love Sandro

Because Sandro is a young brand in the United States, it is still relatively unknown. In order to make itself more relevant to the United States consumer, Sandro has paired with multiple well-known bloggers: Fashiontoast, the Man Repeller, and Cupcakes and Cashmere.

Fashiontoast
Rumi Neely of Fashiontoast often refers to Sandro, particularly when she visits Paris for the bi-annual fashion shows. As a fan of the brand, Neely wears it often in her blog posts. This is where I first learned of Sandro.
Each of the posts which feature Sandro are linked back to the Sandro website, and as it is with a typical linkage agreement, Neely receives compensation each time a customer purchases a product through her link.

Man Repeller
Leandra Medine of the Man Repeller has paired with many brands, and they always seem to sky-rocket to fame soon after being featured on her blog. Medine has a particular affinity for French brands, and Sandro is no exception. On Refinery29, Medine is featured below trying on pieces from Sandro's Fall/Winter 2012 collection in its store on Bleecker Street. Again, when Medine shows her outfit of the day, she links any Sandro product back to their website.

Cupcakes and Cashmere:
Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere is not featured wearing any Sandro on her blog, but she did feature a skirt of theirs in a collage of skirts. She also has a linkage agreement with Sandro.

 

Sandro paired exclusively with the popular blog, Refinery29.

 Connie Wang, one of the writers at Refinery29, chose various items from the Fall/Winter 2012 collection. These picks are featured in a separate section of the website.

Though Sandro has been featured on multiple blogs, and there may be more traffic driven to the site because of it, there is no real "stickyness" on the Sandro website due to bloggers. Buying a skirt or sweater seen on a blogger is more of a business transaction online than a drawing factor to the brand. The customer goes to http://us.sandro-paris.com/  and enters their credit card information.

Sandro: A Global Affair

Sandro's European site should really be called it's French site. The website is written entirely in French, though there are boutiques in 19 countries. The majority of those countries are French-speaking, but not all: Spain, Ireland, Japan, and Russia being only a few examples. See the site below:

Additionally, there are different products on the European site compared to the United States website. All of these products are featured in the lookbook on the United States website, but apparently, they can only be purchased in Europe.

As a global brand, Sandro needs to be mindful of how it presents itself in different countries throughout the world. Unfortunately, Sandro presents itself differently depending on the country. There are only websites for the United States and Europe, yet the European site is more French than anything else. If a customer in Ireland wants to purchase Sandro online, they had better be able to read French. Additionally, the European website seems more technologically advanced. The lookbook is on a continuous roll, instead of requiring the user to click through as they must on the United States website.

Sandro: The Lookbooks + Editorial

The closest thing to an editorial for Sandro is its lookbook, published once a season (twice a year). It shows the contents of the collection, including its product offering the United States and throughout Europe. Each of the looks is numbered, to the left of the outfit photo, and underneath it lists the products used in the shot. There are links so that the user can upload the shots to their personal social media.

A major issue with the lookbook is that it includes products that are unavailable in certain areas of the world. For example, in Look #7, the site lists two products used, yet the model is wearing three, maybe even four. The products are simply listed, as opposed to linked. The user has to remember the product name and search it on the website.

Sandro: The Site

The website for Sandro is simple: a black and white image is the homepage, and it leads to a white background with merchandise in rows. The international homepage features family images and a cool skater boy wearing Sandro merchandise.

A major problem with the website is that this personality - the juxtaposition of quality family time with "cool" clothes - is not carried throughout the website. In fact, it does not go past the international home page.

The merchandise photography is highly digitalized. It is easy to see small details of the merchandise, even those products which are black or with high texture elements.

The predominant colors are black and white, which harks to the price point of the line. Black seems to give the stark white a warm feeling, and a majority of the luxury websites use black accents. The new move with luxury websites is predominantly white, which Sandro has mimicked.

It is not luxury, but the website design is simple to ensure the quality merchandise speaks for itself. The site is sleek and decently easy to navigate.

Sandro: Brick-and-Mortar Stores vs. Online Store

As a relatively new brand (launching in 1984), Sandro operates an extremely limited distribution in the United States; there are only 17 brick-and-mortar stores in North America (14 of which are shop-in-shops at Bloomingdale's), and they are focused primarily on the coasts.

This is a panoramic shot of the Sandro shop-in-shop at Bloomingdale's at 59th Street in Manhattan.

This is a closer shot of one wall in the same shop.

The store assimilates into the aesthetic of Bloomingdale's rather than retaining its identity. The wood floors are the only difference between Sandro and the brands that have shop-in-shops next to it: Zadig & Voltaire, Alice & Olivia, Maje, Equipment, Current/Elliott, and Helmut Lang. The shop is merchandised by color: oxbloog red on one wall, blue on another, and forest green on the third. There is a center table with select sweaters and handbags piled on top. The shopper does not get the French "joie-de-vivre" from the shop.

The merchandise is similar to the product offered on the United States website. A major difference is that Bloomingdale's offers handbags which are not available on the United States website. However, the price points are identical as Bloomingdale's uses the MRSP. Because I visited the shop the weekend of Thanksgiving, there were sales throughout Bloomingdale's. Those sales are not mimicked from the Sandro website; they are Bloomingdale's company-wide sales.

Sandro opened its first United States free-standing brick-and-mortar store in November 2011 on Bleecker Street. The white walls and wood flooring are similar to Bloomingdale's, unfortunately. Again, aside from the name on the glass door before entering the store, there is little to suggest that this is Sandro as opposed to another boutique downtown. There are no prints on the walls that echo the site's homepage, which is so inviting. Though there is little personality in the store, the white walls and light flooring suggest higher-end merchandise. The light colored walls and flooring, paired with dark fixtures, mimic Sandro's website colors. The new trend in luxury is to have a predominantly white website, and Sandro matches that here in their shops.

Though the product offering is nearly identical, Sandro's website competes with its brick-and-mortar stores through price point differentiation. Sandro is typically French in that it only holds sales twice a year - its season-end sales. A Sandro customer may be able to get products cheaper if there is a holiday sale (Black Friday, Memorial Day Weekend, etc.) in the United States.

The online store is not as easy to navigate as other online stores, because there is no sort feature (other than sorting by price) once the customer chooses the method in which to view the products. Though, it must be noted, there is not a plethora of merchandise on the website, it is frustrating to manually sift through everything to find a product of interest. There are sections of edited merchandise and look books of the latest collection, but the customer is not able to directly shop the look books. See below.

Instead, the customer has to remember the name of the product and search the website another way. Depending on the product that the viewer is trying to buy, the site re-routes to another unfamiliar site. See below.

This is too clumsy, and can be streamlined similarly to Net-a-Porter, which allows its clients to shop its online magazine.

After choosing the way they want to view the website - categorically, by keyword, or by previously starred items from a wish list - the customer has to find a product that interests them. Each product page is a page unto its own; there is no page that is linked to it, and additionally, there is no product that is linked to the product page. See below.

It is unfortunate that Sandro does not show any other product with this ombre style vest, for example. As a customer, I can't buy any of the product that is shown with this vest in the full outfit shot. Instead, I have to continue to search throughout the website to find the complementary products.
In a brick-and-mortar store, there is a sales associate to reinforce the product and ensure that the customer knows how to wear the product - usually with complementary products in the store. Sandro has no component that mirrors the sales associate online. There is no instant message chat for instant answers to questions. There is no way to entice the customer to purchase more through up-selling or cross-selling. If the process of finding complementary product takes too long, the customer may choose to forgo the original sale all-together.

Sandro: SWOT Analysis

sandro on Prezi

Addressability makes the customer feel as though the company truly cares about who they are by addressing the customer by name and remembering certain details about them: where the customer is located (through GPS located inside the computer), what language to automatically display the site in, and by addressing the customer by name throughout the website.
Sandro is relatively weak in addressability. The homepage to the site does not display my name upon logging in. "Megan Heal" is only displayed once I choose to see my account details. However, once I choose to see the details of my account, Sandro remembers where I have billed and shipped my previous orders, or where I have stated that I would ship orders. The site has the ability to save multiple orders, so if I chose to send an order to my parent's house as opposed to my apartment, the site will remember both addresses for future orders.
Furthermore, Sandro provides its customers with the option of subscribing to its newsletter. Though I am currently subscribed to the service, I have yet to receive a letter in the three months since signing up.
Finally, in the account details section of the Sandro website, Sandro gives the customer the option of creating a wish list with the merchandise on the website.

Interactivity is the ability of the customer to connect with the website and make the experience feel as close to shopping in a brick-and-mortar store as possible. Often - especially in this economy - customers do not necessarily want to purchase items when they go shopping. In a brick-and-mortar store, it is easy for the store to accommodate: the customer can walk around the store clutching an item and place it down at the last minute; the customer can even try on the item without promise of purchase. In e-commerce, it is slightly different, because the customer can't hold on to an item ad infinitum in an online shopping cart. Most websites have a time limit that merchandise can be held.
In order to accommodate the browsing customers, Sandro offers their registered customers the option of creating a wish list. As the customer browses through the products on the website, they have the option of clicking a button and adding the product to a wish list. Additionally, there are comment boxes adjacent to the (small) pictures of the products in the wish list. The comment box is convenient for the customer who wants to make notes about the item, perhaps about fit concerns, or ranking which item they wish to purchase first. Finally, wish lists are, conveniently, able to be shared. As the holiday season is quickly approaching, wish lists that are easily emailed or shared with social media are a fast way to finish all holiday gift shopping. Additionally, the customer gets the sensation of adding items on their wish lists to the bag through the "Add to Bag" feature. When the customer clicks this button, they see the item moved from their wish list to their bag, similar to the action of physically placing an item in a shopping cart or on a cash wrap.

Memory accesses the ability of the site to remember details about the customer's preferences. Again, this is established through the wish list that registered customers can create. Sandro alerts these members when items in their wish list go on sale by displaying their prices in bright red font. However, the customer is not notified by email. Instead, the customer has to visit the website and check their wish list to keep tabs on their preferred items. More sales could be realized if the site generated an email to their registered customers as soon as items that they marked as preferred go on sale.

Control refers to the amount of management on the site in regards to searching items; it refers to the way in which the site is organized and merchandised. There are three ways to search through the Sandro site: categorically, by wish list, and by keyword. Additionally, merchandise can be viewed by collection and by curated pieces from popular blog, Refinery29. Unfortunately, the site is not organized once the customer chooses how they would like to search or view the merchandise; there is no color story that makes the merchandise easier to see, and there is no way to sort through a category once it is chosen. More organized websites, like Net-a-Porter will organize their pages by color, so the customer can easily scan through product to find the color that they are looking for. Or, instead of organizing by color, the website will give the customer options of how they would like to view product: sorted by price, style, color, or fabric. Sandro only offers the customer the option of sorting by ascending or descending price.
The edited merchandise is no better organized than the general merchandise. Picks are not displayed by outfit, nor by category. The viewer is left to mix-and-match the product for themselves.
Finally, there are no suggested items paired with selected merchandise. There is no attempt by Sandro to up-sell or cross-sell.

Accessibility refers to the ease of viewing the website, aesthetically, and whether or not it is accessible to customers with disabilities. It also refers to the ease with which the customer can contact the company.
Sandro is relatively strong in accessibility. The high contrast of the predominantly black and white website not only reads luxury, but it easy to see to someone who is color-blind or has difficulty seeing. Additionally, Sandro is easy to contact if the customer has a question or concern. There is a link to send an email to the company and the site gives the corporate office's address and phone number. Finally, the company is transparent with their social media. There are links that give real-time updates to Sandro's Facbeook and Twitter accounts. Clicking on either of the logos for the social media sites takes the viewer to Sandro's account with them.

Digitalization of a website refers to the quality of the images used and other technicalities in creating the site. Sandro has extremely high quality images that show detail in garments - even ones made in dark colors. Additionally, the customer can easily link products on the site to their personal social media accounts. This is becoming more and more important in the social media boom of the last five years. It gives the customer ease in knowing that the company is proud of their products and the customer can easily share their preferences with others.

Sandro: The Products

Sandro has an assortment that includes three main categories of merchandise: extremely trendy pieces, classic pieces with an edgy twist, and extremely classic looking pieces. Because Sandro is a French brand, there is a distinct sense of classic minimalism popped by a few color accents; typically, Sandro shows neutral colors rounded out by two or three colors to add visual interest. This past autumn, Sandro used cobalt blue, forest and emerald green, and burgundy to pop their mainly black, navy, cream, white, and gray collection.

The extremely trendy pieces usually have a print, but the print is not overly colorful like many other brands seem to favor in the past two seasons. It is often an animal print, as those are more classic.

Extremely trendy pieces. See below.

The Vaporeuse blazer is made of a wool, polyester, and nylon blend. It retails for $565 ($396 on semi-annual sale).

Classic pieces with a twist. French styling - je ne sais quoi. See below.

The classics. See below.

Sandro: Product and Value Positioning

Sandro is a contemporary French brand with limited distribution in the United States. The shop-able Sandro website is a necessity for many Americans because of its limited brick-and-mortar stores. It aids in creating the brand image for Sandro through its extensive lookbook.

Sandro targets the Millennial Generation, who live primarily in urban areas. Although the customer may be married, it is more likely that they are single and dating. Sandro customers live a "downtown lifestyle," meaning that while they work hard in their budding careers, they also enjoy spending quality time with friends (usually at a bar).

While Sandro often exudes classic romance that many Americans associate with "French," Sandro also marries quirkiness and "je ne sais quoi" polish without looking too contrived.

 Also, there are many classic pieces with an edgy twist.

The brand shows its sense of humor through its jackets with animal-faced intarsia...

 ...and its seriousness through its classic blazers and tweed shorts and jackets.

Sandro does not show a plethora of colors; instead, choosing two to three hues.

The pieces are meant to be mixed and matched to create the "je ne sais quoi" look.

Sandro competes with Zadig & Voltaire and Maje, two contemporary French brands. While Zadig & Voltaire, Maje, and Sandro are all distinctively French in their styling, Zadig & Voltaire is the "rock star child" of the three. Zadig & Voltaire features many skulls in their designs, and is more decidedly edgy than Sandro. Additionally, the merchandise is more casual than Sandro.

Maje is the Parisian take on the Upper East Side: she is fashionable and put-together, but unlike in New York, there is always something "wrong" with her outfit: her hair is messy, or her shirt is un-tucked. Finally, their merchandise lacks the sense of humor and casual styling of Sandro.

For the majority of the Sandro customers across the United States, the website is necessary because of the limited distribution of Sandro products throughout the country. The line is only carried in select Bloomingdale's on the east and west coasts, and the brand only has three stand-alone shops in NYC.