Interview Specials #9: Dressabelle’s fun and fearless fashion

Introduction to Dressabelle…

Dressabelle is about fun, fearless fashion for ladies of all shapes and sizes. Dressabelle is committed to making fashion affordable for everyone, while never compromising on quality. There are pieces for every occasion – school, work, formal/cocktail events and casual day-out’s. Truly something for every lady!

Dressabelle began as a little venture created by two inquisitive friends to discover what happens when you explore your passions, and try to express your creativity and personal style to other ladies out there. What really happened was that they embarked on a journey, together with their customers, in coming up with our own personal brand and style, and what they can offer. Customers of Dressabelle know that they can rely on them for a good mix of apparels for the work place (cause we are young professionals ourselves!), black-tie / high glamour events and parties, as well as pieces to look effortlessly chic on casual days.

Challenges encountered…

As with most start-ups, challenges are bound to come your way. For Dressabelle, it’s really about creating a differentiated product and service that their customers can instantly identify and associate themselves with in a market-place with such low barriers to entry. In order to do that, they really had to figure out how to develop a strong brand that is backed by high quality and beautiful apparels, as well as prompt & sincere customer service, before even considering what they can do to reach out to their customers and generate awareness for Dressabelle in a highly-saturated market.

Preventive Measures…

Internally within the Dressabelle team, they work in such a way that every member knows exactly what she is supposed to take care of. Each of us is also responsible for meeting our pre-set service level standards(e.g. to answer customer queries / comments within a certain period of time).

In fact, when they realised that Dressabelle has grown in popularity and sales have increased as a result, they went through a thorough process of engaging an assistant to ensure that they continue to provide the same high level of customer service to everyone who shops with Dressabelle.

In addition, they address all of their customer’s reservations upfront, before they even make a purchase, so that they know exactly what to expect from Dressabelle in terms of their apparels, as well as any service support post-sales. Speaking of after-sales service, they do not look at every sale as a “done deal” once their customer make her payment.

They also create confidence amongst their customers by giving them notice of when their parcel has been mailed, and if there are any defects found upon receipt, they do a 1-for-1 exchange (or even refunds on certain cases) for them.

If items do not fit them for some reason or the other (either due to sizing issues or if they bought it on impulse only to realise that it doesn’t really suit their personal style), they are also one of the first to come up with the concept of The Trading Floor, where customers can sell off Dressabelle items that they do not wish to own anymore.

Keep their words, high quality items, prompt response…

Dressabelle’s idea of a safe blogshop is, first and foremost, one that delivers what was promised, and at times even above and beyond their customers’ expectations. If high quality material and workmanship is promised, then it has to be felt by their customers upon receiving their items as well.

What also helps is prompt response to their customers’ emails, because many a times, customer worries and fears stem from lack of communication between them and the shop owners.

Over at Dressabelle, they believe in addressing all of their customer concerns in the quickest time possible so as to ease of any worries or fears that they may have.

According to them, if they do not reply as promptly as they should, it is really because they are still investigating the issue, because believe it or not, some issues can be really complex!. And these issues take time.

When they eventually get back to their customers, they will once again communicate and help them understand the complexities behind the situation that they are facing, and keeping strong service recovery in mind.

Things to look out for in online shopping…

The primary qualities that customers look out for are:

- High quality apparels with great attention to detail and strong workmanship that match their personal sense of style

- The ability to have a trusting relationship with the shop – through positive word of mouth from their friends, good testimony / recommendations, the shop’s credibility, etc.

-  Friendly and prompt customer service in every aspect of the customer’s journey

Some secondary qualities that customers look out for are:

- A good model to showcase the shop’s apparels beautifully

-  Seasonal promotions and discounts

Dressabelle founders would like to say some words to budding entrepreneurs…

Always put your customers first – think about how you should be running your shop from their perspectives. If your starting point is right, it’s hard to go wrong!

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SafeBlogShopper would like to say a big thank you to blogshop owners who responded to our interview request and gave their best in putting all these interviews a great success.

Feel free to drop us any comments if you have anything to say.

Disclaimer:

- All images are screen shot from Dressabelle
– Most of the content in this interview are contributed by Dressabelle.