Deal highlights

• Delivering in-season, on trend handbags to customers for a fraction of the cost of retail value.

• $70k+ a month in revenue the past 3 months

• Profit margins average 45% across all subscriptions
• Helping brands maintain their MSRP and brand integrity and move unsold and excess product — even before the season ends
• An in-house design team that creates handbags for 3 separate handbag lines
• A $12B market opportunity

Customers want on trend, in-season, luxurious handbags, but can't always afford the premium.

What customers want

At Ivory Clasp we deliver stylish handbags at a fraction of the cost of retail.  We provide personalized style, direct to their door while maintaining the added element of surprise and delight each time a customer receives their bag. Fashion is a luxury to most and we strive to give our customers that experience of luxury for less.

Because of our unique partnerships with well known brands, we are able to provide our customers the experience of  luxury product that is in-season and still marketed at full price but at the exclusive Ivory Clasp price of $49 a month. Retail value of the full price bags range from $79-$230 so this is an incredible value and service to the customer.

How it works

Our handbag partners

We have developed unique partnerships with many well known fashion brands allowing us to offer their handbags at our exclusive price. Partnering with us provides multiple benefits to the brands beyond simply a sale.  Examples include:

• Allowing brands a way to test out new styles
• Move inventory that is not selling or was 'over-bought'
• Fill gaps left from failing big brick and morter businesses
• Drive down cost of overall orders (tacking on to production orders)

Overwhelmingly, the number one reason brands look to partnering with us is that we are NOT a discount store that will not cheapen their brand. 

House brands

We have our own in-house design team that creates handbags for 3 separate handbag lines called A.V.I. Collection, With 212 and Republic of Aces. Currently sold through their respective websites, these brands will soon be sold at multiple other retailers. We also move these brands through Ivory Clasp and, in fact,  some of the most loved and requested handbags have come from our in-house team! Because of this we are able to design bags we know our customers will adore, and are able to hit fantastic margins as we do not have to pay the mark-up required when purchasing from outside brands.

Our subscribers love us!

Handbag community

We love to engage with our customers and encourage them to post their #ivoryclasp style. But it became so much more, and after watching this community of positive, stylish handbags lovers blossom we knew we needed to create them a place of their own. So we launched Bagaholics as a handbag Facebook community for our highly engaged customers. This allows us to foster a community which highlights the need for many handbags through peer-validation as well as allows users to buy/trade/sell their Ivory Clasp (and other) handbags. 

Our unique model

Our business model is simple and proven to work:

• We drive revenue through monthly and quarterly subscriptions, both priced at $49, depending on what the customer selects
• We acquire handbags for our customers by buying them from trusted, well-known brands and by creating them using our in-house handbag development team.
• Our profit margins average 45% across all of our subscriptions
• The handbag market is a $12B industry that will continue to grow
• Monthly or Quarterly Subscription
  
  • We introduced quarterly to capture a larger and new market

Ivory Clasp is the first handbag solution to truly capture the three most important aspects of the market: Trendy/In-Season, Affordable, and Quality/Brand Name. 

We're simultaneously a discounter that can supply full-price and in season bags, and a full priced retail shop that can operate/sell to the mass market. TJX is currently soaring at $45b market cap, while Macy's is nosediving ($7b). We're the best of both worlds.

Ivory Clasp’s Competitive Advantage

• Brands and licensors are often prohibited by their retail contracts from selling in-season handbags to other retailers that will advertise those same handbags at a discount.

• Since Ivory Clasp does not advertise which exact handbags its customers will receive, the brands and licensors are still capable of selling in-season handbags to Ivory Clasp at a discount.

• Therefore, brands and licensors can sell to Ivory Clasp to hit higher factory MOQ’s and offload inventory, while customers receive discounted, but still in-season, handbags.

• In addition to being a distribution channel for brand name handbags, Ivory Clasp is also an incubator for brands created based on data from subscribers.

The Handbag Market

• The handbag market is a fragmented $12B market, with even the largest brand, Michael Kors, owning less than 20% market share.

• According to Signal Brands (world’s largest handbag licensee) research, the average consumer purchases 5-7 handbags priced at $100-200 a year ($900/year average across multiple brands).

• Ivory Clasp’s subscribers spend on average $380 a year in lieu of other brands.

Competition

Why invest in Ivory Clasp?

• Innovation - We deliver in-season, on trend handbags to our customers for a fraction of the cost of retail value.
• Value - We help brands maintain their MSRP and brand integrity and move unsold and excess product- even before the season ends!
• Market Growth - Discounters (like TJ Maxx, Ross and Nordstrom Rack) are the only growing outlets in the dying brick and mortar retail industry. We leverage their market/business model while doing the one thing they can’t do- selling in season product that is still ‘fashionable’ and ‘full price’.
• Choice - We give consumers ‘broad choice’ (style) vs. forcing ‘specific choice’ wherein they have to decide between two similar bags at a store (or other subscription company).
• Revenue - We have done $70k+ a month in revenue the past 3 months.
• Handbag Market - Handbags are a $12B market opportunity often overlooked for other accessory markets like shoes.
• Millennial - We are a millennial focused brand with a younger demographic, and ability to leverage social media/ online presence to attract users.
• Simplicity - Users get to keep the handbags with no additional or hidden costs.
• Profitability - We make a fixed amount on every user, every month - so we can be more accurate when predicting LTV.
• Price tag - By masking what brand/product we carry at any time, customers receive product that has never been discounted (and brands get to sell the product without having to sell it off-price). So no more ‘cheap feelings’ one gets when shopping at a discounter.
• Scale - Ability to expand proven model into other verticals

Financial path to success

Right now we're profitable on every unit we send out and our churn and customer acquisition costs metrics are 11% and $25 over the past 3 months) with an LTV (life-time-value) of $93. We can sustain the business, but wish to raise capital to increase Advertising spend and the rate of new customer acquisition. This allows us to show growth and (a) raise a larger venture backed round and (b) take over a segment of the market. Using our ability to A/B test product we intend to take  our learnings to the market and produce data-driven bags based on what people want. We also intend to scale into different verticals leveraging our understanding of single-product subscription boxes.

Benefits of scale

• Allows for wider assortment and more targeted styling
• Able to hit MOQ with more suppliers
• Better margins for product, shipping and boxes. 

Current partners

We're excited to work with companies who continue to push the needle and provide irresistible consumer experiences. We love introducing students to our awesome partner brands! 

Press

Next steps

IVORY CLASP

Short term (3 months)

Improve Style Quiz

• Make it faster and more efficient

Expanding Quarterly Service

• We are focusing on paid advertising to grow the Quarterly Subscriptions retention. Moving beyond Facebook and Instagram and expanding into Pinterest, Direct Mailers,  Influencer outreach, Email Marketing, Retargeting and Insert Swaps specifically to build this service to its full potential.
  

Automate Styling

1. Decrease time it takes for our personal stylist to choose a bag for a user (and therefore reducing shipping time as well)
2. Data driven decisions allow for more accurate styling

Interim term (3-9 months)

Higher-end Tier

• 60% of cancelled users say they would re-subscribe for a higher-end quarterly subscription. Begin work on new tier to be $135/a season carrying leather-only brands like: Sam Edelman, Perlina, Botkier, Frye, Cole Haan, Michael Kors, Coach, Kooba, Rebecca Minkoff, Ted Baker, Juicy Couture (leather), Tommy Bahama.

Faster Shipping Times

• Additional East Coast/Midwest distribution center (aka 'warehouse' or 'fulfillment center') to save money on zoning (how much you pay on shipping that is related to how far the package has to travel). 

Bigger vision

Long term (1 year +)

• Launch mini-style quizzes each month allowing customers choose to a specific type of bag one month and another a different month (A beach tote this month and a new small black branded clutch the next).

New App

• Gamification of the style quizes via a mobile app. Allows us to:
  • Provide more accurate styling;
  • Send GWP's that they value; and
  • Provide ‘discounts’ on products they liked via affiliate networks.

New Perks/Upsells

• Via affiliate (or in-house) give discounts on shoes that match their handbag and
• Upsell makeup or nail product that matches their handbag

VIP STATUS

• Develop a loyalty program where High LTV users will be able to earn points the longer they subscribe that can be redeemed for discounts, exclusive GWP's, early access to flash sales, faster ship times, unique upsells and more.

Full Price Handbag Shop

• Become the handbag obsessed's one stop destination by also selling handbags from a variety of brands at full price. 
• Allows for better margin and ability to select their own bag for those who don't want the element of surprise. 

Vertical Expansion

• Expand single subscription purse model to jewelry (already in progress) shoes, apparel, sunglasses/accessories, luggage, scent.

Combine Verticals

• Allow customers to choose which product category they want each month, like a modern Sears Catalogue or TJ MAXX/Ross/Marshalls competitor. They can choose a new handbag one month, a bathing suit the next, a new kitchen accessory the following month, and yoga pants the following one still while maintaining a single CPA and significantly increased LTV, as well as substantially increased retention

PRIVATE LABEL EXPANSION

• Utilizing our data driven design approach we will continue to expand our private Label Brands With212, Republic of Aces, and A.V.I. with national distribution. In addition, we will relaunch Maison Du Sac Paris, a brand with previous broad success.

Interim term (3-9 months)

Expanded Private Label Brand Product

• Expand our strongest selling brands into different verticals like shoes, athleisure, jewelry and apparel (depending on the brand).

Pop-Up Shops

• Utilizing a partnership with Westfield we plan to test small pop-up shops to test product styles and the viability of brands while driving brand awareness and sales.

Licensing

• Work with up and coming brands and influencers to launch private label products. We handle design/manufacturing (with ability to ship to our subscribers free-of-royalty) and take a commission on all products they sell.

Long term (1 year +)

• Build our best preforming private label brands into lifestyle brands representing their respective customer base. 
  • With212- Handbags, Fashion Jewelry (Q1-2018 tbd), Footwear (Q3-2018)
  • Republic of Aces- Handbags, Fashion Jewelry (Q1- 2018 tbd), Outerwear (Q3- 2018), Mens bags (Q3-2018)
  • AVI- Handbags, Fashion Jewelry (Q2-2018 tbd), Apparel (Q3- 2018 tbd)
  • Maison du Sac Paris- Handbags *plan to bring into leather/contemporary price point (Q2 /Q3- 2018 tbd)*

From our founders

"As I started to become fully immersed in the fashion industry, I started to quickly become passionate of the idea of what it is consumers want and why is it that they want this specific product and style."

"One of the most exciting things about Ivory Clasp is that customers love us! We are seeing incredible traction. What this tells us is that not only are we on to something with handbags, but we're on to something in the more broad look of how business models and subscription businesses should look in the 21st century."

- Sean Rimokh

"Ivory Clasp is addressing two problems in the market: - The first, is that today’s millennial women love brand names, however they’re brand agnostic to which of the hundred brands they see in stores and online. The second is that brands and licensors on the other hand struggle with recouping costs of unsold inventory."

"Why do Brands love us?  Simple, brands and licensors are often prohibited by their retail contracts from selling in-season handbags to other retailers that will advertise those same handbags at a discount. Since Ivory Clasp does not advertise which exact handbags its customers will receive, the brands and licensors are still capable of selling in-season handbags to Ivory Clasp nearly at cost. Therefore, brands and licensors can sell to Ivory Clasp to hit higher factory MOQ’s and offload inventory, while customers receive discounted, but still in-season, handbags."

- Avi Zolty

Invest in Ivory Clasp