Adore Me

Adore Me
Private
Founded 2012
Founder Morgan Hermand-Waiche
Headquarters New York, New York
Products Underwear, Lingerie, Swimwear
Website adoreme.com

Adore Me is a women’s intimates company based in New York City. The company manufactures and sells lingerie, sleepwear, swimwear, activewear, and other products.

History

Adore Me was founded by Morgan Hermand-Waiche.[1] He got the idea for Adore Me in 2010 while in his second year of Harvard Business School’s M.B.A program. He was shopping for a gift for his girlfriend, and couldn’t find an option that he felt was high quality and also within his budget. An affordable alternative became the inspiration behind Adore Me.[2] Hermand-Waiche spent three years working at management consulting firm McKinsey & Company prior to Adore Me.[3]

Initial investors in Adore Me include Hermand-Waiche’s Harvard professors,[2] and angel investors Fabrice Grinda and Jose Marin.[1] The company officially launched its website in March 2012.[4] In the same year, Adore Me raised $2.5 million in its second round of funding with investments from Redhills Ventures, Jaina Capital, Ventech Capital, and other US angel investors. Adore Me reportedly sold 100,000 items in their first year of business.[5]

In July 2013, Adore Me raised $8.5 million from investors in a Series B round of funding. Investors included Upfront Ventures, Redhills Ventures, and Mousse Partners.[5][6]

In 2014, Adore Me was listed as the second fastest-growing private retail company on the Inc. 5000 list based on their 2013 sales of $5.6 million.[7] They went on to generate $16.2 million in sales in 2014.[8]

As of 2015, Adore Me had 88 full-time employees.[9]

In 2016, Adore Me was ranked #9 on Crain’s list of New York’s 50 Fastest-Growing Companies.[10]

In 2017, Adore Me was named one of the Internet Retailer Top 1000 companies from DigitalCommerce360.[11]

Products

Initially, Adore Me products included lingerie, sleepwear, swimwear, and related apparel. Bra sizes range from 30A to 46G.[12][13] In October 2016, Adore Me launched an activewear collection. Similarly to the bras and panties, the activewear collection includes sizes from petite to plus.[14] In April 2017, Adore Me announced that they had launched their largest swim collection to date, with 88 pieces for standard and plus sized women.[15] Current head of design, Helen Mears, formerly worked as head designer of the Angels brand at Victoria’s Secret.[16]

The brand has been compared to Zara regarding pricing and its practice of fast-fashion production.[5][6] Adore Me primarily sells its products online. Customers shop through personalized “showrooms” and can purchase products a-la-carte on a one time basis or as part of a monthly subscription, known as “VIP Membership.” Products are currently shipped to customers in the U.S. and Canada.[1][2][17]

Expansion into retail

In April 2016, Adore Me opened their first retail store as a showroom at their New York City headquarters.[18] In June 2016, Adore Me partnered with Nordstrom to begin selling products in Nordstrom stores and on the company’s e-commerce site.[19] As of October 2016, Adore Me also partnered with Lord and Taylor to begin selling products in the Manhattan flagship store and online.[20]

Models

Adore Me has promoted body positivity and inclusivity within the brand.[12][21] They have worked with models such as Iskra Lawrence, a spokesmodel for body positive campaigns;[22][23] Nina Agdal, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model;[24] and Sophie Tweed-Simmons, daughter of Shannon Tweed and Kiss’ Gene Simmons.[25]

Marketing Practices

Adore Me has used A/B testing to test the performance of its lingerie models. The company tests the same product on two different models or the same model with two different poses, and compare sales from each.[26] The company has crowd-sourced customers using polls on its website to determine which product users like best before sending that product into production.[27]

Customers have complained about the company's use of negative option billing. Adore Me offers the customers the choice of buying a product at full price or of buying the same product at a discount by joining a membership club. The club then bills the customer a fixed amount each month unless the customer buys lingerie or opts out for the month. While the membership may be canceled, the customers have found it difficult to cancel. Adore Me said they have since made adjustments to the membership model. Online options were updated to include an auto refund or independently canceling the membership.[28][29]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Perez, Sarah. "Adore Me Raises $2.5 Million For Personalized Lingerie Showrooms". TechCrunch. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Max, Sarah. "For Valentine’s Day, Adore Me Takes On Victoria’s Secret and Other Bigger Lingerie Rivals". New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "The First Five Years: Morgan Hermand-Waiche (MBA 2010)". Harvard Business School. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  4. ↑ Carney, Michael. "Intimates etailer Adore Me pads its bank with $8.5 million in Series B funding". Pando. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Shontell, Alyson. "Man Raises $8.5 Million For Victoria's Secret Killer, AdoreMe, Which Sells Half-Price Lingerie". Business Insider. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 Ruth, João-Pierre S. "Lingerie E-Commerce Site Adore Me, Developed at Harvard, Raises $8.5M". Xconomy. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "The 2014 Inc. 5000". Inc. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  8. ↑ Zaroban, Stefany. "Second 500 newcomers skip ahead of their older rivals". Internet Retailer. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "2015 - Year in Review". Adore Me. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  10. ↑ "Crain's names 50 fastest-growing companies in 2016". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  11. ↑ "Online Retail Eclipses Brick & Mortar By 6 to 1". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  12. 1 2 O'Brien, Sara Ashley. "Plus-size models sell more bras". CNN Money. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  13. ↑ Chapin, Adele (2016-06-17). "Adore Me’s Plan To Take on Victoria's Secret Involves Nordstrom". Racked. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  14. ↑ Borchardt, Debra (2016-09-19). "Adore Me Launching All Size Activewear Collection". WWD. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  15. ↑ Mantor, FashionNetwork.com, Cassidy. "Adore Me makes big splash into swimwear". FashionNetwork.com. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  16. ↑ Yamagata, Erin. "AdoreMe". thestyleline.com. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "Free Shipping, Free exchanges & Easy Returns". Adore Me. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  18. ↑ Booth, Barbara (2016-02-24). "Adore Me's new plan to upend Victoria's Secret". CNBC. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  19. ↑ Borchardt, Debra (2016-06-15). "Online Retailer Adore Me to Sell in Select Nordstrom Stores". WWD. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  20. ↑ "Exclusive: Adore Me strikes lingerie deal with Lord & Taylor - New York Business Journal". New York Business Journal. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  21. ↑ "This lingerie company is using one of Victoria's Secret's own models to compete with the brand". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  22. ↑ "Iskra Lawrence received a death threat from terrifying internet troll". Cosmopolitan. 2016-09-26. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  23. ↑ "Victoria's Secret's main competitor is releasing a lingerie commercial that's unlike anything we've ever seen". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  24. ↑ Hendrix, Kelsey. "Nina Agdal is the new face of Adore Me Swimwear". SI.com. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  25. ↑ "Sophie Simmons revels in her curves for new lingerie campaign". Mail Online. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  26. ↑ Greenfield, Rebecca. "This Lingerie Company A/B Tests the World's Hottest Women To See Who Makes You Click "Buy"". Fast Company. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  27. ↑ Booth, Barbara. "A sexy way to fuel business growth—and profits". CNBC. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  28. ↑ Greenfield, Rebecca; Bhasin, Kim (April 28, 2016). "The Future of Shopping: Trapping You in a Club You Didn’t Know You Joined". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  29. ↑ Schlossberg, Mallory (January 12, 2016). "Furious customers are calling a hot lingerie startup a scam because of its sales model". Business Insider. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
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