Building a VC-Funded Fashion E-Commerce Company: Weddington Way CEO Ilana Stern (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: What is your perspective on this theme that often gets discussed that there’s a bias against women in Silicon Valley. Do you buy it?

Ilana Stern: It’s a hard question to answer. I think I’ve been really fortunate in fund raising, team building, and getting support from my environment. I don’t feel disadvantaged. I am a minority, so it’s not unusual for me to walk into a room of a hundred men and I’m the only woman. I look back and thank my dad for being intentional with me from a very young age and challenging me to make my voice be heard and just helping me build my confidence. It hasn’t been a challenge for me but it is very much a reality that I’m a minority. >>>

Building a VC-Funded Fashion E-Commerce Company: Weddington Way CEO Ilana Stern (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: How do you assess the TAM? How big is the bridesmaid dress category?

Ilana Stern: Bridesmaid dresses itself is about a $2 billion category housed within the $14 billion wedding fashion industry. Overall, the wedding industry is $100 billion.

Sramana Mitra: Your growth strategy is wedding industry merchandise or collaborative e-commerce?

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Building a VC-Funded Fashion E-Commerce Company: Weddington Way CEO Ilana Stern (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What has been your inventory strategy starting from the beginning to where you’re now doing private label. Can you step us through how the inventory strategy has evolved over time?

Ilana Stern: The brands that we launched with are special occasion dress brands that are all made to order. Essentially, it’s a non-inventory business because the dresses are produced for a specific customer. What’s special about that is there’s a tremendous amount of variety that we’re able to offer a bride with the made-to-order model. >>>

Building a VC-Funded Fashion E-Commerce Company: Weddington Way CEO Ilana Stern (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: This is not exactly a wedding planning site? It’s a bridesmaid shopping site.

Ilana Stern: No, it’s not. It’s a rich collaborative shopping experience.

Sramana Mitra: Yes, but your focus is still on bridesmaid dresses or has it broadened?

Ilana Stern: Our focus is still on bridesmaid dresses and we’ll be expanding beyond that. Earlier this year, we launched our own private label. We started to vertically integrate, which gives us the ability to get even closer. We’re so close to understanding what our customer wants and what she’s missing. We’ve got the power to serve that up to her through our private label collection. Over the next couple of years, we’ll be launching new categories of merchandise that’s still focused on the wedding industry. >>>

Building a VC-Funded Fashion E-Commerce Company: Weddington Way CEO Ilana Stern (Part 2)

Ilana Stern: What was really interesting was that I saw this disconnect between the supply side and the demand side. If you took a millennial bride and looked at how she lived her life in general, it’s very different from how her mother lived her life in terms of how she consumes media, how she connects and stays in touch with friends, and how she shops. If you put a millennial in the position of being the bride and planning a wedding, she could actually take her wedding and hand it over to her mom. Her mom could plan it the same way she did 30 years ago, and not much has changed. It was this disconnect between consumer behavior and what the industry was offering the consumer that got me really excited about the industry. >>>

Building a VC-Funded Fashion E-Commerce Company: Weddington Way CEO Ilana Stern (Part 1)

There aren’t that many venture-funded fashion e-commerce companies out there. The main reason is that the venture capital business is dominated by men, and typically, women happen to be more in tune with fashion. Ilana Stern is building a very interesting fashion company focused on bridesmaid dresses as the starting point.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with your personal story. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised and in what kind of circumstances?

Ilana Stern: I’m originally from Los Angeles. I was very close with my family. My dad is actually an entrepreneur of sorts. I was inspired by his hard work and passion for what he does. When I was 18, I left LA and went to the University of Pennsylvania for undergraduate studies. >>>

Chinese e-Commerce Market Continues Heady Growth; Alibaba Dominant

According to China Internet Network of Information Center, China’s Internet population grew 3.7% over the year to 618 million users as of December last year. That translates to 45.8% Internet penetration in the country. Mobile Internet usage statistics are also impressive with the number of users growing 19.1% to more than 500 million. The center also reported a 6% growth in Chinese online shoppers to 302 million.

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Flipkart Leads India’s e-Commerce Market, Acquires Myntra

Forrester estimates the Indian e-commerce market to be worth $13 billion last year. The Indian e-commerce market was dominated by travel which accounts for 70% of consumer e-commerce transactions. But retail is catching up as well. Forrester’s report estimates online retail sales to be worth $1.6 billion last year. Analysts estimate the online retail market to grow to $3.1 billion during this year and to grow seven times in the next five years.

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