Cheeky Peach

   Cheeky Peach’s philosophy is, “Work hard, play hard, look damn good doing it.” The retailer lives up to its philosophy by providing fashion forward clothing at affordable prices. This year’s fall trends include fringe, floppy hats, tie-dye, bells, booties, and unique statement jewelry. Cheeky Peach does a great job of marketing its brand through its social media sites and connecting users through promoting different contests. This summer, Cheeky Peach held a contest where users had to create a Pinterest board of their ideal vacation called “Pack it Peach” and pin at least 8 styles from Cheeky Peach’s summer collection for a chance to win $250. Cheeky Peach also held a contest giving away two Braves tickets for Father’s Day. To enter, users had to post a picture of their dad and explain why he deserved the tickets using the hashtag #peachpappa. Cheeky Peach promoted connections through its social media, which was another avenue of getting its name out there. Cheeky Peach also posts three to five times a day to maximize visibility and exposure on social media.

   What I like most about Cheeky Peach is that it supports local restaurants like Clocked, Your Pie, and Athens Bagel by featuring them on Instagram when the company’s team goes out to eat or holds business meetings at these restaurants. Cheeky Peach also supports local artists by featuring its own unique jewelry on Instagram using #supportlocalartists. Cheeky Peach also features jewelry by Betsy Pittard Designs and Whitney Shoe. Another interesting thing Cheeky Peach has done with its social media is to pick study abroad students to style its clothing and blog about it using #peachesabroad. Cheeky Peach utilizes every aspect of social media possible to encourage each girl to be their own lady boss.

T.J. MAXX

T.J. Maxx is full of hidden treasures waiting to be discovered. None of the national off-price retailer’s over 3,300 stores carry exactly the same merchandise, so shoppers can even hop from store to store in search of bargains. This treasure hunting draws women and men alike into T.J. Maxx stores in search of fashionable clothing at affordable prices.

T.J. Maxx keeps up with the latest trends by purchasing 85% of its merchandise from the current season. Ripped jeans, horizontal stripes, tribal, and horizontal patterns are featured in T.J. Maxx for this fall. T.J. Maxx also labels its clothing from the past season to warn its especially fashion-conscious shoppers who only want the latest trends.

T.J. Maxx has built a community by marketing its brand through social media. T.J. Maxx has their own Pinterest board called “#Maxxlife Moments” to feature some of its favorite looks. The Pinterest board has 623 pins ranging from trendy outfits, pictures of accessories, and featured home good items. On twitter, it has been using the hashtag #Maxxinista for its shoppers to showcase their finds and share their stories for a chance to win a thousand dollars. There are almost 60,000 posts under this hashtag on Instagram, and T.J. Maxx has been featuring its favorite looks on its own Instagram page. T.J. Maxx also has a contest going on for shoppers to share their favorite looks using #Maxxlife for a chance to win $50. Almost 13,000 people have entered into this contest using the hashtag. The use of contests has helped T.J. Maxx gain new customers because the hashtags showcase stylish products that are identical to those sold under the same brand in expensive department stores. 

Red Dress Boutique

 

   Red Dress Boutique expanded its business with the help of social media. The husband and wife entrepreneurs started with a brick-and-mortar store, but their business grew exponentially when they launched a website. Now, online sales make up 90 percent of Red Dress Boutique sales.
The Red Dress website often shows items that have sold out and shows new clothes added daily. The founder, Diana Harbour, explained, “Scarcity breeds demand. I’ll order limited quantity. Girls want to know a hundred other girls don’t have what they have on. I get on social media and I hammer it. I was taking photos of the models in the fitting room in the clothes and uploading them immediately into Facebook so girls could see live time what just came in. It started a bit of frenzy. Social media has made it where you have to have the new, the next, the now. Every day.” Mrs. Harbour’s savvy use of social media helped turn Red Dress Boutique into a multi-million dollar enterprise.
   For example, Red Dress tweets about four times a day about things ranging from motivational quotes to new products, specific looks, and when items are restocked. Red Dress has 17,000 followers on Twitter with 12,300 tweets, including retweets from their followers. Red Dress has an even stronger presence on Instagram, with 188,000 followers and over 7,000 posts. Red Dress also started its own hashtag, #rdbstyle, which allows users on Twitter and Instagram to tag posts when they are wearing Red Dress clothes. Red Dress then picks their favorite outfits from #rdbstyle and features them on their Instagram page. Red Dress has been holding weekly giveaways on Twitter and Instagram of certain outfits or gift cards for users who like the weekly photo, comment with their size, and then tag a friend to be entered in their weekly giveaways. My personal favorite, though, is Red Dress’ Pinterest boards. Their 44 different boards with over 20,000 pins range from looks for each season to lifestyle quotes, do-it-yourself projects, and even recipes.
    This innovative use of social media allows Red Dress to reach customers beyond its Athens, Georgia home. The ease of online shopping also makes it easier for shoppers to find the latest trends and outfit inspiration. I especially love their fall college game day outfits and different looks with a fur vest layered over with knee high boots.

Urban Outfitters

   Have you ever looked into your closet and thought, “I have nothing to wear?” For the fashion 
conscious, this is an all too familiar struggle. Even you don’t consider yourself up to date on the latest trends, no one likes to wear the same outfit over and over again. Social media sites  like Pinterest and Instagram can be a great source of inspiration to cure these fashion woes. The popular retailer Urban Outfitters recently opened a store in downtown Athens, and allows shoppers to use social media to find new and exciting outfit ideas. Through Twitter and Instagram, as well as a standalone app, users can take photos of their own outfits and share them with the community using the hashtag #UOonYou. This social media campaign helps shoppers connect with one another to provide inspiration for those mornings when your closet is seemingly full of dull, tired outfits. 

   Urban Outfitters’ hashtags allow their customers to showcase their items in a unique way, while also helping the retailer market its items. Currently, Urban Outfitters has 3.4 million Instagram followers and one million Twitter followers. This year’s featured trends by Urban Outfitters include plaids, long sleeve cropped tops, dark boyfriend jeans, and button-front skirts. Corduroy and suede skirts and jeans are also making a comeback this year in a big way. Besides clothing, Urban Outfitters also encourages shoppers to use the hashtag #UOAroundYou to post their home and lifestyle items like vinyl records and decor in a daily setting. Even for the budget conscious among us, these hashtags can breathe fresh life into our wardrobes by inspiring us to find new and unique ways to re-wear the same outfits.