Name: Of a Kind
Quick Pitch: Retail startup sells limited-edition clothing and accessories exclusively on Tumblr.
Genius Idea: Of a Kind, the first store to be built on blogging platform Tumblr, is celebrating its one-year anniversary later this month.
The startup has amassed a loyal following among consumers looking to acquire design goods outside of the mass market. Each week, founders Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo unveil two items they've commissioned from two emerging designers, such as the Clove Scarf by Louisa Parris ($195, above). Items tend to be priced between $60 and $175, and come in runs of 20 to 35 on average.
Content plays a big part in Of a Kind's sales strategy. Mazur and Cerulo dish up a lot of information about the designers whose goods they sell on their site, taking readers behind the scenes of the creative process in one post, and examining their favorite eateries or movies in another.
"Consumers really connect with the storytelling aspect," Cerulo contends.
But Mazur and Cerulo attribute a greater share of their success to the Tumblr community, some 35,000 users of which now follow Of a Kind on Tumblr. The community has been a great fit for Of a Kind because it's populated by early adopters -- people who are the first to acquire new gadgets, or the first to know the next big band or chef, says Mazur. These people also want to be first in discovering great design.
Tumblr's built-in subscription options have also helped Of a Kind develop a steady customer base. Twenty-five percent of all sales have come from repeat customers, according to Mazur.
Not that Tumblr hasn't had its drawbacks. When the platform was experiencing frequent outages earlier this year, Of a Kind went down with it, and so they were forced to build a backup system that keeps the site up when Tumblr goes down.
Site design in general has been a challenge within the limitations of Tumblr's platform -- something that has again become apparent as the company prepares to launch a redesign in the next couple of weeks, says Mazur. Soon, designers featured on the site will be able to make pieces from their regular collections available for purchase, giving both parties greater opportunities for revenue.
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
