HORS D’OEUVRES Frances
Pace
Table Of Contents: 1. What is Man Repeller? - The Customer - Blog Competition - Previous Endeavors 2. Hors D’Oeuvres - Overview - Research - Goals - The Product 3. Advertising Campaign - Process - MR Site and Emails - Social Medias - Traditional Advertising - Extra Images
Table Of Contents: 4. Logistics - SWOT - Eyewear Competition - Pricing - Assortment Plan - Sales -Costing - Profit and Loss - Markup - Challenges - Critical Risks & Problems - Timeline - Conclusion
is a company launched in 2010, geared toward the idea that ‘trends women love, men hate’. It started off as just a blog, but has grown into a massive media following complete with a limited edition accesories line. They still have the same purpose as when they first started, but now discuss more than just fashionIt’s become a lifestyle.
“Man Repeller explores the expansive constellation of things women care about from a place of openness and humor, with the conviction that an interest in fashion doesn’t minimize one’s intellect.” - Leandra Medine, Founder
Target Market:
Target Market: Psychographics - Women age 18-40 - Interested in fashion, know about name brands as well as up-and-coming brands - don’t listen to convential fashion rules and regulations - wear whatever they want, however they want - don’t think that liking fashion equates to being shallow - social media savvy, active on Instagram - aren’t afraid to be themselves - don’t take themselves too seriously - opinionated and stick to it - up to date or one step ahead of the latest trends
Target Market: Demographics - Women age 18-40 - Most likely single - Either working or in school - Rent/ Live with roommates - Likely work in fashion - Keep up with fashion in their free time - Have a high disposable income to be able to afford designer brands - Live in a big city (NYC, LA, Chicago) or aspire to
Blog Competition: - None of their competition in terms of fashion blogs, have merchandise, so there is not much direct competition there. In terms of indirect, its:
Previous Endeavors:
Man Repeller: Seeking love. Finding Overalls. - Biography of Founder, Leandra and her long-lasting love of fashion, how the brand started - Published in 2013 - Retails for $26
- Line of tee shirts as well as baseball caps - Sold for a limited amount of time - Hats launched in 2016 - Tees launched in 2017 - Tees retailed for $65 - Done in collaboration with Monogram
MR by Man Repeller Shoes - First line was launched in November 2016 and the last line launched in 2018, before changing the name to Leandra Medine instead of associating them with Man Repeller - Cost $130 and up
Hotel Man Repeller - April 6-8, 2018 MR took over two floors of the Freehand Hotel in NYC - Planned a bunch of outings across the city, gave you a goodie bag and had a gift shop set up in the lobby that continued on for a few months after hotel MR ended
MR x Negative Underwear - Kit of items done in collaboration with Negative Underwear - Included top, underwear, socks, a pillow case, a sleep mask, a rollerball fragrance, matcha sticks and a cherry hair clip - Kit itself retailed for $250
MR Buffet - Accessories line released winter 2018 - Included barrettes, bags, sunglasses, earrings, and a beanie - Line was sold online for about a month, and they also did a pop-up store in Sweets by Chloe. for about a week - Items in the line ranged for $35 for the ‘flagpole’ barrette and $85 for the ‘unibrow’ sunglasses
HORS D’OEUVRES
RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN Man Repeller line of five eyeglasses Goes off of their last brand extension called ‘Buffet’ which was an accessories line including bags, hats, earrings, sunglasses, and barrettes The glasses are centered around the idea of ‘breaking fashion rules’ - An animal print frame so that you could mix animal prints or different prints in general - Horizontally striped glasses to combat the idea that you can’t wear vertical & horizontal at the same time or that you can’t mix them with other prints - Glitter glasses because ‘sparkles can only be worn at night’ - Navy and black glasses because those colors should ‘never be worn together’ - White glasses that you can wear after Labor Day The ad campaign is then centered around that same idea
Why Glasses? - Sixty-four percent of adult’s wear eyeglasses and around eighty-five percent wear sunglasses - There is also a sizable number, estimated at about four million, who wear glasses even though they have no vision impairments, according to Freakonomics author Stephen Dubner - Eyeglasses are like shoes, you likely need different ones for different occasions - “The same way a woman might pluck her real eyebrows and draw them in with make-up, you’re doing the same thing with your glasses, you have make-up on without realizing it.” - Rick Paulas
Goals: - To increase Man Repellers revenue through creating this eyewear line - To broaden Man Repellers accessories business through creating an extension of ‘Buffet’ - Increase brand recognition - Establish Man Repeller as an accessories company as well as a fashion blog - Most people buying their products are people who are already aware of what Man Repeller is and are devoted to the brand, so trying to bring in some new customers - Getting people who wear glasses to not think of glasses as so boring
The Colby Jacks
The Trifles
The Sprinkles
The Blueberry Muffins
The Oat Milks
The Case:
Campaign: ‘Breaking The Fashion Rules’ Campaign showcases how the glasses are meant to ‘break the fashion rules’ and that glasses don’t have to be so boring, as well as how your clothing can break the fashion rules - Copywriting is playful and witty, targeted towards women within their target market - Headlines touch on fashion rules and stigmas, or the name of the line and all have a link to the MR website - Photoshoot shot similar to how Man Repeller typically shoots, and how they shot ‘buffet’, the images from that will then be used in the ads Campaign will contain social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) along with MR articles and emails, wild postings in NYC, subway advertising, and print advertising
Process: Creating The Glasses
Process: The Photoshoot
Shoot Mood Board:
The Sprinkles
The Oat Milks
The Blueberry Muffins
THE LOGISTICS OF IT ALL
Strengths - Have a cult following - All their business endeavors sell out - Do lots of collaborations - Fashion brands love them - 2.1 Million Instagram followers
& Weaknesses: - Besides their cult following, relatively unknown - Pop-ups are always limited to NYC - Small company- have about 10 employees - Most of their apparel is quite pricy
Opportunities - Growing outside of NYC - Supporting less expensive brands or products - Expanding into the eyewear market
& Threats:
- More well known eyewear brands - Less expensive eyewear brands - Competition delving into merchandise - People being skeptical of them selling eyewear
Competition:
- An Italian eyewear company and the worlds largest eyewear company - Founded in 1961 - They own nearly 30% of the market share after merging with their biggest competitor, Essilor, in October of 2018 - Designs, manufactures, distributes and retails its own eyewear brands - These brands include: LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Apex by Sunglass Hut, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Target Optical, Eyemed vision care plan (anything sold at an Ophthamologist) and Glasses.com - This means they own Ray-Ban, Persol, Oakley, Chanel, Prada, Miu Miu, and more - They’ve been accusing of holding a monopoly over the eyewear industry, which is what allows them to charge so much for their glasses and have a markup of up to 3,000% - Their profit in 2018 was $2,935,032 (in thousands of euros), which equates to roughly $3,345,936 Billion
“l.a.Eyeworks began on September 9, 1979 when Barbara McReynolds and Gai Gherardi opened a single storefront on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The original whim for this adventure? To challenge the prevailing norms of eyewear with proposals for a new, provocative revelation of the face. More than three decades and hundreds of frame designs later, l.a.Eyeworks remains a privately owned house of optical imagination, encompassing two namesake retail stores in Los Angeles and a wholesale company that channels its influential designs to a global network of independent opticians and retailers.� - Have two retail stores in California as well as sold through certain ophthamologists across the country - Each pair costs upwards of $400, without including prescription
- Online retailer of eyeglasses and sunglasses with physical locations in 29 states, DC, British Columbia, and Ontario - Known for their ‘At-home try-on’ where 5 glasses are sent to you, you’re given 5 days to try them on, send them back specifying which ones are your final pick, and they send them back with your prescription - Start at $95, $125 for high-index lenses, $195 for light responsive and $295 for progressive lenses - Founded in 2010 by Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider - The name “Warby Parker” derives from two characters that appear in a journal by author Jack Kerouac - Their 2017 revenue was between $320 million and $340 million
- Korean sunglasses and optical glasses brand founded by Hankook Kim in Seoul, South Korea in 2011 - As of April 2018, the company has 41 directly operated stores worldwide, including in Korea, the United States, Singapore, and China - Employs only six people to design their eyewear versus the sixty people they hire to design store visuals - Jae W Oh invested about $100,000 in 2012 and Gentle Monster began producing frames in Daegu, which had been a manufacturing hub for Luxottica, and China, since acetate frames are illegal to produce in South Korea - Have collaborated with designer Henrik Vibskov, Hood by Air, and Opening Ceremony - Frames start at $190 and go up to $420 - they do not specify how much the price goes up by adding a prescription to your lenses - They are a private company, making it hard to find their 2018 revenue
Pricing: - Their ‘Unibrow’ sunglasses in the Buffet line were priced at $85 - Warby Parker prices their glasses starting at $95, increasing to $125 for different lenses - if you go to an ophthamologist, frames usually start at around $200, and lenses are about $200 as well bringing the price to $400, and can go up to $700 - In keeping with their usual price point but factoring in the possible prescription lenses, each pair of glasses will be $130 for the frames with no prescription lenses - For the frames plus prescription lenses, the cost will be $200 - This still makes them cheaper than Luxottica glasses, more expensive than Warby Parker (to be expected given that they’re limited edition) - but not out of what the Man Repeller customer would expect
Assortment Plan: Product Name
Quantity
Colby Jacks
2,500
Trifles
2,000
Sprinkles
1,700
Blueberry Muffins
1,300
Oat Milks
2,500
Total
10,000
Sales: - Sold online for seven weeks - September 20, 2019 through November 8, 2019 - Glasses with no prescription cost $130 - With prescription is $200 - Roughly 10,000 pairs sold, 2/3 being sold without prescription - Revenue of non-prescription would be $866,666 - Revenue of prescription would be $666,666 - Total revenue would be $1,533,332
Cost: - Glasses cost $12 to manufacture ($120,000) - Glasses cases cost $1.25 to manufacture ($12,500) - So total, would take between $13.25 ($132,500) Other Costs to Consider: - Renting out a manufacturing space ($5.80 per sqft at 16,400 sqft) -$95,120 for a month -Labor Costs -$13.50 wage, 40 hours a week for 4 weeks, 50 workers = $108,000 - Advertising costs - magazine $20,000 per magazine x 4 , subway $3,000 per ad x 100 - $380,000 - Website costs - $10 - Shipping and Handling costs ($7.50 per pair) - $75,000
Profit and Loss: Total Revenue
$ 1,533,332
Total Cost of Goods Sold
$ (132,500)
Total Operational Costs
$ (278,130)
Total Promo Cost
$ (380,000)
Total Profit/(Loss)
$ 742,702
Markup: - Glasses cost $12 to manufacture (range is $8-14 at the most) - Glasses cases cost $1.25 to manufacture - This makes total manufacturing cost $13.15 - Retailing at $130- the markup percent is 881% - Prescription ones retailing at $200, the markup percent is 1409% While this does sound insane, that’s pretty normal within the eyewear industry - Assuming their glasses cost $8 to manufacture, Warby Parker has a markup of 1087% - If you buy glasses from your ophthamologist, they’re most likely made by Luxxotica - Assuming their glasses cost the same amount as Man Repeller’s will cost to produce, and your glasses probably cost $400, Luxxotica’s markup is 2918%
Challenges: - Finding a manufacturer within or near New York City - Sourcing materials and costing materials - Cost of prescription lenses being higher than non-prescription - Different prescriptions - Time difference between producing lens’ with prescription versus sans prescription - Whether or not people will want to buy their prescription glasses from a company that is not “well versed” in eyewear
Critical Risks & Problems: - Creating this amount of glasses and not selling them within the allotted amount of time, resulting in excess merchandise - Not having the capacity to create prescription lenses - Certain styles being significantly more popular than others - Glass in manufacturing causing accidents, injuries, cuts, etc. - Frames not being able to be manufactured as they were designed - Competition creating similar product in a faster timeline or at a cheaper cost
Product Timeline:
December - January 2019 Inspiration research and inspiration board finalization
June - August 2019 Product initiation and completion
February 2019 Design Ideation
September 2 2019 Date of arrival of completed goods
March 2019 3D modeling and virtual prototyping
September 20 2019 Website launch day
March 2019 Social Media campaign to begin
April - May 2019 Physical prototyping and testing
November 8 2019 Website to be shut down and product no longer sold
Lens Process:
Recieve Glass Banks
Generation
Blocking and Grinding
Polishing
Centering and Edging
Coating
Conclusion: This extension would be successful for Man Repeller. It appeals to their already exisiting target market, while possibly drawing in some new customers as well. With the markup being so high for glasses, they make a good profit. Through only selling it online, it saves them lots of money and time that they would otherwise have to devote to either a storefront or a pop-up. Being a good mix of more simple glasses and more ‘out there’ frames, there’s sometime that appeals to everyone. With only 10,000 units and an online store being open for a month and a half, they’re sure to sell out of most frames, just like they did with Buffet. There would likely be a few bumps in the road, just as there is with manufacturing any product for the first time. In terms of marketing, using more traditional advertising along with social media marketing, they grab their customers attention in many different places, as well as people who are within their target, but do not know about the brand yet. It’s one of the only accessories categories that Man Repeller has not delved into, but one that they should.
Sources: https://manrepeller.com https://manrepeller.com/about https://stylecaster.com/fashion-rules-to-break/ https://www.pinterest.com/francesp96/capstone-thoughts/ https://web.stanford.edu/group/ifarmteams/files/BiotechConnectionSept162014.pdf https://www.statista.com/statistics/626555/average-rent-per-square-foot-paid-for-industrial-space-usa-by-type/ http://www.cisco-eagle.com/industries-served/order-fulfillment/the-typical-warehouse https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/83094 http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/15156/ https://www.miniwebtool.com/markup-calculator/?selling_price=700&total_cost=14 https://www.pr.com/press-release/69271 https://pitchbook.com/newsletter/warby-parker-revenue-revealed
Sources Pt 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_Monster https://www.adweek.com/digital/eyewear-fashion-image-pr/ https://www.allaboutvision.com/eyeglasses/accessorize.htm https://psmag.com/social-justice/more-than-just-four-eyes-the-hidden-psychology-of-wearing-glasses
THANK YOU!