Sunday, 14 May 2017

Charmed to meet you - Charlie Chanaratsopon

He is the founder and CEO of the accessory store Charming Charlie, which Forbes magazine said made $550 million in sales in 2015. Mr. Chanaratsopon was included in Forbes’s list of “America’s Richest Entrepreneurs under 40” that year.

He was born in the USA after his family migrated there from Thailand in 1974. The family went on to found a sterling silver jewelry business. “I grew up in a business-oriented family. I love business. Period.”

The former real estate analyst was not really planning to be a fashion mogul. “I have more of a finance background. So I built a shopping center and the idea is to put more stores in it,” he said.

His first accessory shop, with pink doors, mirrored shelves, and gilded interiors, opened in Houston, Texas in 2014, and was meant simply to fill up space in the shopping mall he was building.

“Charming Charlie became popular really fast. So we flipped. We focused on it, and said, ‘Okay, let’s be the best fashion jewelry store we can be.’ In 2007, I stopped building malls.”

Now there are more than 370 Charming Charlie stores in the US, and branches in Canada, the Middle East, and the Philippines where a store has opened at Central Square in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. This year, a second branch will open at Glorietta 2 in Makati.

“The overall thesis was, here’s an idea that can make a lot of money. At that time, I saw a few local players doing well in warehousing fashion jewelry,” he added.



“It was spontaneous, and so, here we are.”

He remembered one of his first problems was christening the store with a catchy name. “I was torn among many suggestions but three names stuck with me the most because they were pretty bad,” he said while laughing -- “Accessory City,” “Accessory Buffet,” and “Funky Monkey.” The a-ha moment came when someone said “Charming Charlie.”

The accessory brand projects itself as a “candy store for women -- except they are fashion items,” he said.

Charming Charlie sets itself apart from similar stores by arranging its broad assortment of products -- fashion jewelry, handbags, scarves, etc. -- by color, 26 to be exact. There are the basic colors and there are other shades like “French roast,” “light sea foam,” “adobe,” and “pool blue.” The Philippine store offers more basic color choices in black, white, gold, and rose gold. But there are also a few bags and bangles, watches and wallets in red, yellow, and blue. The price range is competitive: starting at P250, nothing costs more than P2,500.

ACCESSORIES OVER APPAREL
 
But if given a chance to fill up the shopping mall empire he was originally building, would he stick with an accessory shop or choose another business venture?

“I do not like apparel,” he said bluntly.

Clothing items, he said, are hard to market because competition is tough. There are established fast fashion brands he would have to compete against like Zara, Mango, Forever 21, and H&M. The business of clothes, he said, is also deflating.

“In the last 20 years, it has deflated. The cost has gone down one or two percent a year, while everything, meanwhile, has inflated.”

“But I like accessories,” said Mr. Chanaratsopon, who was wearing a white button-down polo shirt and blue houndstooth blazer. An oversized watch was peeking from under his sleeve.

He said he likes accessories in a sense that they do not come in sizes, which makes the business easier to manage. Also, they have “better margins and fewer competition.” Plus, his experience with the family business in jewelry also helped him navigate the ins and outs of fashion accessories.





LESSONS LEARNED
 
Like any other startups, Charming Charlie started at the bottom, relying on word of the mouth. “There was no Facebook yet,” he said. But there were cellular phones.

“I’d sit at the stores and see how women shop,” he said. He noticed that whenever women saw something they fancied, they would immediately get on their phones to call their girl friends to herald the good news: “I saw a watch I am totally crushing on.” Or, “I found a necklace that would upgrade my look.”

Through customer analytics, he learned women want to shop by colors, so he arranged the stores by color. And since then, Charming Charlie has been known as the “color store.”

If there are things Mr. Chanaratsopon has learned as a businessman, he said listening is always important. “Be customer-centric,” he said. He also added that it pays to think out of the box and always be inquisitive and ready.

“There are challenges every day. When we started in the US, we didn’t have direct competition. The first few years [were spent] learning the playbook, meaning, make the big mistakes early when there’s fewer stores. If there are big things coming down the road, I tell the senior staff -- whom I call the ‘binoculars’ -- ‘Hey, you got to see the big bumps coming.’ When you’re smaller, you can turn quickly when there’s a big bump, but when you have so many stores, the bumps hit you a lot harder. So we wanted to get the big bumps out [of the way] during the first three years before we grew. Then we opened very fast after that.”

In 2010, Ernst and Young named him the Entrepreneur of the Year in the retail category. In 2013, Forbes magazine featured him as among the ones to watch for. While his business was still at its infancy, he decided to pursue an MBA at the Columbia Business School which he finished in 2007. But the businessman is not content to rest on his laurels. “Every day is a learning process,” he said.

After 12 years, he has no plans of slowing down. He said he’s opening a store in Mexico next year. He also said that Asia is an important market. He is eyeing expansion in China and Hong Kong soon. What about Thailand, BusinessWorld asked. Eventually, he said, smiling.

As brands get bigger and the competition gets tougher, businesses should learn how to heed the signs of the times by tapping into the powers of technology.

“Now we cannot rely on the word of mouth alone. The brand has to be aggressive,” he said.

Charming Charlie, and the rest of today’s brands, he said, are tapping “online influencers” because: “bloggers have millions of followers, they are relevant, and authentic. Their posts go viral very fast.

Original Posted http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Arts&Leisure&title=charmed-to-meet-you&id=130523

Friday, 12 May 2017

Charming Charlie: A Jewel of a Chain

Chanaratsopon, who at age 33 leads one of the fastest-growing specialty retailers in the country, simultaneously earned his MBA from Columbia University in New York and started Houston-based Charming Charlie. The chain has grown to 178 stores in 33 states in just seven years, essentially doubling its store count each year.

Charlie Chanaratsopon would often bounce ideas off his professors to get tips for the company, which was founded in 2004 and employs more than 5,000 people across the country, including more than 600 locally.
"I really used it as a sounding board for the business," he said.

Chanaratsopon, who has a background in finance and real estate, got the idea for the jewelry and accessories retail chain after "walking the malls" to get ideas about what shoppers wanted.

Using excess inventory from his family's jewelry manufacturing business, he started Charming Charlie with a store on Harwin Drive.

"I knew I didn't want to be in the apparel business because it was so competitive," Chanaratsopon said. "With accessories and jewelry, there was so much unmet demand."

And although growth came fast, he said he was never afraid to tweak the concept based on customer feedback.



Setting it apart

It was only after opening store No. 7 that Charming Charlie adopted the format that now defines it in the industry - grouping the merchandise by color, rather than by category.

Richard Jaffe, a retail analyst with StifelNicolaus Research, said Charming Charlie's color groupings have helped set it apart in the ultra-competitive retail market.

"Their merchandise is laid out in a very straightforward, easy-to-understand format that tells color stories," Jaffe said. "They are almost like vignettes that are driven by color."

But both Jaffe and Charming Charlie customer Lara Bell said the primary attractions are the affordable prices, especially in an economy where shoppers are looking for bargains.

'The biggest draw'

Charming Charlie's merchandise is typically priced from $4.97 to $49.97, with many of its earrings and watches ringing up at $14.97.

"For me, the price is the biggest draw," said Bell, who visits the Bunker Hill store - one of 10 in the Houston area - at least three times a week and never leaves without purchasing something.

"I don't want to drop $40 on a pair of earrings that I might only wear once or twice. They have their pulse on what shoppers want."

Indeed, Jaffe said one of the main things that shoppers want is to be able to affordably accessorize clothing they already own.

"The consumer is interested in dressing from her own closet right now. Not in buying clothes, but in buying accessories that don't cost as much but can refresh a whole outfit," he said. "The demand is out there, and retailers like Francesca's and Charming Charlie are capitalizing on that."

Jaffe's firm also follows Houston-based Francesca's Holdings Corp., which operates accessories and jewelry boutiques across the country and recently undertook a successful IPO.

Charming Charlie is profitable, Chanaratsopon said, though he won't disclose revenue figures. He did say he expects another shot in the arm from the company's website, launched two weeks ago.

And while Chanaratsopon credits his well-planned business "playbook" for a portion of the company's growth, he admits to a little bit of luck and timing.



Prime spots

When the company started in 2004, bank loans and credit for expansion were easy to come by. As the recession took hold and the real estate market took a hit, Charming Charlie was able to ramp up expansion since prime retail spots were easier to find and cheaper to secure.

"We were in a position to take a lot of those spots that the national guys didn't take at the time because not a lot of them were growing," he said.

There has been chatter about an IPO for Charming Charlie, but Charlie Chanaratsopon would only say that it could be a possibility.

"Our focus is on growing the business, and as we look at different ways of accessing capital, we could look at the stock market," he said. "If it's a great thing at the time, then we'll do it."

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary of Charming Charlie

Launched just 10 years ago, fashion jewelry and accessories retailer Charming Charlie is on the move. With nearly $500M in sales and over 330 domestic stores across 42 states, today the company announced several new strategic initiatives to drive continuous growth.

Charming Charlie will be opening another 55 stores next year, including its first New York City store in April 2015. At 16,000 square feet, the three-level flagship is set to be the largest of the brand's stores worldwide. Situated at 445 Fifth Avenue at 39th Street, the Charming Charlie flagship will be a showcase for the retailer's new store concept. Designed in partnership with Callison architects, key elements will include a two-story, 30 foot tall glass facade with an LED illuminated exterior that adds vivid color and movement to the storefront, 20 foot tall double doors in the brand's signature vibrant pink lacquer, and a classic residential-style interior that mixes feminine, mid-century accents with luxe materials and whimsical details.
Known for offering a wide array of affordable fashion accessories merchandised by color, the New York City store will carry the full range of product including fashion jewelry, handbags, small leather goods, scarves, watches, sunglasses, select footwear and apparel, a special occasion collection, and more. 

Delivering on the company's mission to provide high style and unrivaled value, retail prices range from $5 to $150 for select limited edition items. The new flagship will also house the brand's PR office and showroom.

"We are thrilled to announce our move into New York City," said Charlie Chanaratsopon, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Charming Charlie. "It is especially fitting that this announcement comes as we celebrate our 10 year anniversary."



Charming Charlie also announced news today regarding its global expansion. The retailer opened its first stores outside of the U.S. last week, both in Canada's Ontario province (Brampton and Vaughn). Two additional Canadian stores are scheduled to open imminently in British Columbia (Victoria and Surrey). The company has also signed its first international licensing agreement to open stores outside of North America in a partnership deal with Apparel Group UAE. The agreement will result in Charming Charlie stores opening throughout the Middle East in 2015, within the countries of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Apparel Group UAE is a leading fashion conglomerate headquartered in Dubai that operates over 950 retail stores and employs over 9,000 people across four continents. This partnership marks an important step in Charming Charlie's international strategy and signals the beginning of a significant transformation to come as the company evolves from a U.S. retailer into a global brand with a worldwide audience.

To fuel the company's growth, Mr. Charlie Chanaratsopon has put a strong leadership team in place. In addition to Steve Lovell, who joined the company as President in 2006 and who has been an instrumental force in its rapid growth and success, Chanaratsopon has made several new additions to the company's leadership team, including retail veterans Tom Fitzgerald, Toni Robinson, Britton Russell, Kristen Dykstra and most recently, Jody Austin. Rounding out the executive team are Melissa Whitehead who joined in 2012 as Senior Vice President of Stores after serving in various leadership roles at Ulta, Banana Republic and Victoria's Secret, and John Hnanicek who also joined in 2012 as Chief Information Officer.

"We are delighted to welcome these strong leaders to the Charming Charlie team," said Chanaratsopon.  "We are certain that their combined expertise will be invaluable during this next phase of growth and expansion."



Tom Fitzgerald, named Chief Financial Officer & Chief Administrative Officer, brings over 30 years of experience in executive leadership, operations and finance. Before joining Charming Charlie, Fitzgerald was Chief Administrative Officer at Sears Canada, a $4 billion multi-channel, multi-format retailer. In earlier leadership roles, he was Chief Executive Officer at Lucky Brand Jeans, Chief Operating Officer of Direct Brands at Liz Claiborne, and Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer at Bath & Body Works. Fitzgerald also held various leadership roles at PepsiCo, Inc., where he served for over a decade.

Toni Robinson was appointed Senior Vice President of Planning and Allocation. Prior to joining Charming Charlie, Robinson served as Senior Vice President of Planning and Allocation at Chico's FAS, and as Vice President of Planning and Allocation at Bath & Body Works.  

Britton Russell recently joined the company as Chief Supply Chain Officer, overseeing Sourcing, Logistics, Distribution, and Customer Service. Prior to joining Charming Charlie, Russell most recently served as Senior Vice President of Global Operations at Michael Kors where he led the expansion of Distribution in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to Kors, he was VP of Supply Chain at Mexx, led the global sourcing organization at The Home Depot, and served for ten years as Partner at Kurt Salmon Associates. Russell began his career at Nike.

Kristen Dykstra joins the team as Chief Marketing Officer. Most recently, Dykstra was Chief Marketing Officer at Halston. Prior to that, she served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Ann Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer at Kenneth Cole Productions, and Senior Vice President of Marketing & PR at BCBG Max Azria Group where she served for over a decade and played an instrumental role in building the company from a $200 million retailer into a multi-billion dollar portfolio of brands.

As the newest addition to the team, Jody Austin joins the company this week as Chief Merchandising Officer. Bringing 30 years of industry expertise, Austin was previously Executive Vice President GMM, Merchandising at Victoria's Secret Direct and Vice President GMM, Merchandising at Liz Claiborne Inc. She also served as SVP Product Design & Development at Banana Republic where she contributed to tripling the business over her seven years with the company.

These key executive hires reflect the company's focus on transforming Charming Charlie from "the best kept secret" into a global brand through a heightened focus on product and value, store experience, and building brand awareness through elevated creative campaigns and marketing.

In other news, in October the company celebrated its one year anniversary of its online store at www.charmingcharlie.com. The current website reflects the company's initial foray into ecommerce, and its quick success has made it a focal point for growth and an elevated experience in 2015.