FIG. 1: BABES OF BEVERLEY HILLS CAMPAIGN, SEPTEMBER 2016

 

Missguided are a British retailer selling clothing targeted at young women (16-35 years old), founded by Nitin Passi in 2009 (Missguided, 2018). They saw £206 million in sales in financial year 2017, as well as 75% year-on-year growth (Stevens, 2017). Missguided are known for their online store, specialising in budget friendly and on-trend products. They are constantly collaborating with influencers and other brands (e.g. Carli Bybel, Barbie, Playboy and Love Island etc.) to create popular lines and have a great presence on social media.

Fig. 2:  Missguided’s Instagram page @missguided
Fig. 3: Missguided’s Twitter page @Missguided

 

Dave Chaffey identifies different types of online presence, which each have different objectives and are appropriate for different markets (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2016).  According to Chaffey, Missguided would be considered a business to consumer (B2C) transactional e-commerce site as the main purpose of their site is for consumers to purchase products and for consumers who prefer to purchase their products offline, to obtain information in order to do so.

 

Competitors

Two main competitors of Missguided are PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal. Both are also fashion retailers selling clothing aimed at young women and have a very similar ‘Millennial pink‘, black and white colour scheme on their online stores.

Fig. 4:  Pretty Little Thing’s Website Homepage
 Fig. 5:  Nasty Gal’s Website Homepage

 

Customer Personas, Journeys & Touch-points.

Personas are ‘a summary of the characteristics, needs, motivations and environment of typical web site user’ and are used by organisations to understand their online consumers (Chaffey and Smith, 2008).

Nikki (left) and Kiran (right) are regular customers of Missguided.


Fig. 6: Image source @Stylmk
Fig. 7: Nikki and Kiran’s Customer Personas

Nikki is looking for a new, on trend and budget friendly outfit for an upcoming student night out.

Fig. 8 Nikki’s Customer Journey
  1. Search for Missguided’s website using Google
  2. Click on the link to the site
  3. Click on the Menu tab
  4. Click on the ‘shop by trend’ option
  5. Click on the ‘camouflage‘ option
  6. Search through the product range and click on the chosen product
  7. Click through the range of product images
  8. Click on size ‘8’
  9. Click on ‘add to bag’
  10. Click on the basket icon
  11. Paste in a student discount code and click ‘apply’
  12. Continue with the checkout process

Kiran recently ordered a cocktail dress from Missguided, however the fit seems to be too small for her and so she is hoping to visit Missguided’s Stratford store to return it. She is hoping to do so this week as she will be in the area for a client dinner meeting, however must first find out if she will be able to make it to the store in time before it closes.

Fig. 9 Kiran’s Customer Journey
  1. Search for Missguided’s website using Google
  2. Scroll down to footer
  3. Click on ‘Store Locator‘
  4. Scroll down to ‘More’ button underneath your store of choice
  5. Click on ‘More’ button
  6. Scroll down to the Opening times information

 

Using Missguided’s Website

Simeon (1999) created the AIPD model to assist in critically analysing business’s websites. If all four segments are achieved correctly, businesses will be provided with a user-friendly and effective website. From Missguided’s website we can see that they have ticked boxes in all four segments (e.g. banner advertisement, graphical interface, discounted prices, customer support etc.) thus suggesting that they have a user friendly and effective website.

Fig. 10: AIPD Model (Simeon, 1999)

 

Also, from both Nikki and Kiran’s customer journeys, it is clear that Missguided have a consistent theme that is suitable and attractive to their target market. The product images used are very casual, therefore relatable to the consumer and showcase the product clearly – very similar to PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal’s websites.

Although this is the case, all of the text used on the homepage of Missguided’s site is the same font, colouring and all lower case, thus looking flat and making it difficult for customers who are browsing quickly to find what they are looking for. The homepage does not have some text standing out more than others, similar to how Nasty Gal does so. In order to improve the usage of the website, particularly the homepage, Missguided should look to change some of the fonts and colouring, so that customers are able to find exactly what they are looking for, with ease.

Fig. 11: Missguided’s Website Homepage

 

References

Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2016). Digital marketing. Harlow: Pearson, p.24.

Chaffey, D. and Smith, P. (2008). EMarketing eXellence. 3rd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp.170-171.

Inc. 500. (2012). Nasty Gal: Number 11 on the 2012 Inc. 5000. [online] Available at: https://www.inc.com/profile/nasty-gal [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018].

Missguided (2018). About Missguided – Forward Thinking Online Fashion. [online] Missguidedus.com. Available at: https://www.missguidedus.com/about/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2018].

Perlroth, N. (2013). Naughty in Name Only. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/technology/nasty-gal-an-online-start-up-is-a-fast-growing-retailer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 [Accessed 24 Nov. 2018].

Simeon, R. (1999), “Evaluating domestic and international Web site strategies”, Internet Research, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 297-308.

Stevens, B. (2017). Missguided’s revenues continue to skyrocket. [online] Retail Gazette. Available at: https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2017/05/missguideds-revenues-continue-skyrocket/ [Accessed 18 Nov. 2018].

Wood, Z. (2016). Young, quick and very hip: Missguided and PrettyLittleThing hit the big time. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/17/missguided-pretty-little-thing-hit-big-time-fast-fashion-generation-z [Accessed 24 Nov. 2018].

Wood, Z. (2018). Boohoo spends £3.3m on cofounder’s sons’ company. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/14/boohoo-spends-33m-on-cofounders-sons-company [Accessed 22 Nov. 2018].

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