How Digital Marketing Fueled Fashion Label Tory Burch’s Global Expansion

American fashion designer Tory Burch founded her label in February 2004, the same month that Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dorm room.In the fashion industry, Burch’s rise has been nearly as striking: the 45-year-old CEO has expanded her line of ready-to-wear clothing and accessories to more than 450 department and specialty stores worldwide, as well as dozens of Tory Burch boutiques in the U.S., Europe and Asia. She opened 20 new shops, including several in international cities (Osaka, Seoul, Hong Kong, Kobe and Taipai), in 2010 alone.
Much of her success can be linked to an aggressive digital strategy, says Miki Berardelli, who has served as chief marketing officer of Tory Burch since 2009. The company launched ecommerce immediately after opening its first shop in downtown Manhattan, and toryburch.com generates more revenue than any physical store. Burch is one of the few designers to maintain a direct, ongoing dialogue with her friends and fans on Twitter, which she does in an easy-going and authentic manner. The company’s blog, which is helmed by former InStyle editor Honor Brodie, is broadly recognized in the industry as one of the leading manifestations of ongoing, brand-developed content.We spoke with Berardelli about Tory Burch’s advancements in ecommerce and social media, and how the company is investing in what Berardelli believes is the “future of ecommerce”: namely, shopping through Facebook.Nokia to release Windows 8 tablets this June, top drawer Lumia in the works?  A transcript of our Q&A is featured below.
I think it was really Tory’s vision to create a luxury brand that is accessible and has a sense of social responsibility — those were things that resonated with me both personally and professionally. There was also of course the people and the culture and, from a marketing perspective, the emotional connection that the customer had, and still has, with the brand.Tory always says that in the early years, not having a tremendous budget forced her to really think out of the box and tap into her and her team’s creativity. It was very much about editorial relationships and personal appearances, which enabled her to connect directly to the customer. Seven and a half years years later, that startup spirit is very much alive. We still have not bought traditional advertisements in U.S. magazines, although we do some display and online advertising.