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Back in 2007, Brett Markinson founded HauteLook to give members exclusive 48-hour sales on fashion items. Quite a few people liked the idea - including Nordstrom, which acquired HauteLook in 2011. Today, Markinson is bringing that same strategy to a space a bit less saturated than flash sales with Savoir Mode.
Savoir Mode, which went live last week, gives users a curated feed of first markdowns on the most sought-after fashion brands like Bloomingdale's, Barneys, Net-A-Porter, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, Tory Burch and Steve Madden. Savoir Mode exclusively focuses on in-season styles, a big differentiator between it and every other fashion sales site around.
“We are using tech to bring that same sense of urgency with product that is in-season, at the first markdown in the discount cycle with urgent, current notifications,” David Jette, who is part of Savoir Mode’s biz dev team through Lagovent Venture Group, said.
This “feed” makes sure that users see sales on their preferred sizes, colors and designers as soon as they happen. Savoir Mode is working with the top fashion retailers worldwide and even smaller local boutiques to give this feed a personal, tasteful feel.
“Savoir Mode aligns with a more editorial point of view; we are trying to craft a conscious brand identity,” Jette said.
By working with boutique fashion brands, the site gives users a taste of brands they might not shop for on a regular basis - a true value-add to the high-fashion consumer.
When working with smaller fashion brands, Savoir Mode has to adapt its technology and set up processes for directing traffic to them. The past four months have been spent iterating the product: “We are constantly refining it because we are working with different retailers. It takes a little bit of finesse because every retailer is different.”
Once Savoir Mode gets the formula right, it will be expanding to other verticals like makeup and then even different industries that could use a discount-alert feed.
“The technology can be applied in a lot of different ways, with different discount parameters,” Jette said. “By white-labeling it out,we have the potential deliver these kinds of feeds to anyone. ”
