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Building a retail brand from scratch is harder than it looks. However, after transforming her jewelry business into a $1 billion brand, Kendra Scott is sharing her learnings with other entrepreneurs, including the three elements that were crucial to her success.<\/p>\n
When she started her business, wholesale was key, Scott explained during the\u00a0Inc. Small Business Week Series.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cI didn\u2019t have money for advertising and\u00a0marketing<\/a>,\u201d she said. \u201cBut Nordstrom, they\u2019re a huge megaphone for my brand. I was in their books or their catalogs. They were doing the marketing for me. And that was driving my direct-to-consumer business or e-commerce business.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott described the ideal retail structure as a pyramid with three sections: a strong wholesale presence at the base, a specialty or experiential retail store in the middle, and e-commerce at the top. \u201cThose three elements together have to work and harmonize together to have a successful business and brand,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s advice that Scott has passed along to other founders, including Kelly McGee and Cristina Ashbaugh, the co-founders of Yardsale<\/a>\u2014a ski gear brand specializing in magnetic ski poles that Scott backed as a guest Shark on ABC\u2019s Shark Tank<\/em>. \u201cWholesale gives them this opportunity to really learn a lot about their customer and their product experience,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd, like I said, it\u2019s the foundation for building a really successful brand.\u201d<\/p>\n As a skier, Scott took interest in the brand and closed the deal at $250,000 for 10 percent equity, with a $5 royalty on each sale until she recovers $300,000. \u201cYou skiers deserve each other,\u201d\u00a0Daymond John<\/a>, a fellow Shark, commented at the time.<\/p>\n Scott\u2019s advice has already started to pay off for McGee and Ashbaugh. \u201cThanks to Kendra\u2019s guidance, we\u2019ve secured an expansion into REI, marking a major milestone for us, and we\u2019re very excited for the road ahead,\u201d Ashbaugh said<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2008, Scott opened her first jewelry store in downtown Austin. Since then, she has grown the brand to more than 130 retail locations across the U.S. and over 2,500 employees. She credits her success to engaging with customers and building a company that treats them like family.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was this village\u2014this community of love and support\u2014that we started in those very early days of Kendra Scott that has just continued to grow,\u201d\u00a0she told Inc.<\/em> in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scott knows the middle part of the three-section pyramid well. Leaning into the experiential part of retail, her stores offer jewelry customizations and hat fittings. In March, she opened\u00a0Beau\u2019s Bar in Nashville<\/a>. The space, which is Western-inspired, allows shoppers to enjoy cocktails while browsing jewelry, apparel, and boots.<\/p>\n \u201cRetail today is all about experience. If you are a retailer and you are just opening a store and putting product on a shelf and hoping that\u2019s going to build your brand, you are going to fail,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The four walls of a retail store have to mean something, Scott said. Customers need to feel like they\u2019re stepping into a community that reflects a brand\u2019s culture. The goal is to create an experience so compelling that customers think, \u201cThese are my people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKendra always told us that it\u2019s so important to be experiential and not transactional. And I think that\u2019s been something that\u2019s been really core,\u201d McGee said.<\/p>\n Before opening a permanent storefront in their hometown of San Francisco, McGee and Ashbaugh put Scott\u2019s advice to the test by hosting a series of pop-up events. When it opens, their new space will bring together everything she recommended by operating as a coffee shop, a retail store, an office, a warehouse, and a design studio.<\/p>\n \u201cWe heard Kendra in the back of our heads say you cannot just make a store,\u201d Ashbaugh said. It appears they took her words to heart.<\/p>\n \u2014Amaya Nichole, News Writer<\/em><\/p>\nSharing advice with other entrepreneurs<\/h2>\n
Turning her company into a $1 billion business<\/h2>\n