Studs founders Anna Harman and Lisa Bubbers on their plan to open 'many hundreds' of stores
The Glossy Podcast · with Anna Harman and Lisa Bubbers · February 9, 2022 · 34 min
Summary
Studs, an ear piercing and pierced earring company, successfully pivoted during the pandemic by integrating its strong offline presence with a growing e-commerce business. The founders share their strategy for leveraging both channels to create a complementary, successful brand. They detail their aggressive retail expansion plans, targeting college towns to capture their core demographic, and discuss how they're using significant funding to fuel this cross-channel growth and reinforce brand awareness.
Key takeaways
Prioritize a complementary omnichannel strategy, ensuring both physical retail and e-commerce grow in tandem to build a more resilient business model.
Identify and target specific demographics in underserved locations, such as college towns, to maximize retail footprint impact and capture a loyal customer base.
Leverage funding to support aggressive cross-channel expansion and invest in both physical store growth and e-commerce infrastructure.
Foster innovation and a "write your own playbook" mentality to differentiate in competitive markets and adapt to changing consumer behaviors.
Focus on building both brand awareness and internal team expansion as crucial pillars for scaling a hybrid retail/e-commerce business.
In late 2019, when Anna Harman and Lisa Bubbers launched ear piercing and pierced earring company Studs, providing IRL services was at the center of their business model. But then the pandemic hit. Today, e-commerce is every bit as important.
"In 2022, we're focused on both [channels]," said Harman, on the latest Glossy Podcast. "We want to really continue to invest in and grow the retail footprint, as well as grow the e-commerce business. We'd like them to be highly complementary to one another. The business will be more successful over time if both are key channels for us."
The company has raised more than $30 million to fuel that cross-channel growth. As for expanding its store footprint, Studs has a good start: Harman and Bubbers opened six new stores in 2021, and they plan to own more than 20 stores by the end of 2022.
"You have so many small college towns across the U.S. that have a really captive, large audience of a portion of our core demographic," said Harman. "And so we can have a really large store footprint through time. The opportunity for Studs is unbounded."
Outside of sales channels, Harman and Bubbers are focusing their efforts on expanding their in-house team and overall brand awareness. And, at every step, they plan to write their own playbook.
"Innovation and outside-the-box thinking and creation are what get us out of bed in the morning," Harman said.
What does this episode say about retail & omnichannel?
Prioritize a complementary omnichannel strategy, ensuring both physical retail and e-commerce grow in tandem to build a more resilient business model.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Identify and target specific demographics in underserved locations, such as college towns, to maximize retail footprint impact and capture a loyal customer base.
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Leverage funding to support aggressive cross-channel expansion and invest in both physical store growth and e-commerce infrastructure.
What does this episode say about finance & fundraising?
Foster innovation and a "write your own playbook" mentality to differentiate in competitive markets and adapt to changing consumer behaviors.
What does this episode say about retail & omnichannel?
Focus on building both brand awareness and internal team expansion as crucial pillars for scaling a hybrid retail/e-commerce business.
