Vacaville, Calif.-based retailer Apricot Lane is set to open as many as 30 stores this year as it rolls out new initiatives in hopes of pivoting into an omnichannel retailer.
The 76-store chain, with annual sales of about $50 million, is testing an iPad kiosk in a Peoria, Ill., location, which follows the company’s launch of an online store in October.
“It’s been great because our stores have been able to promote online shopping as well as in-store,” chief executive officer Melinda Liming said. “It seems like everyone wants that omnichannel experience. I think we’re able to cover it all now and we’re still really promoting our social media and e-mail as well as giving that customer the personalized service and access that they want.”
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The company expects the iPad kiosks to be rolled out to other stores later this year.
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The kiosks will help eliminate the need for stores to be e-mailed for an item, followed by a purchase order taking place over the phone.
Jena Green, co-owner of an Apricot Lane store in Peoria, Ill. and operating partner in the company’s online store, helped spearhead development of the company’s e-commerce business.
Green had already been active in promoting her store through social media before the Apricot Lane website launched. She regularly photographed merchandise as it arrived to draw customers into the store.
The efforts through social media helped her store generate a large following and led to customer calls to track product.
“It was taking our staff off the floor and putting them on the phone,” Green said.
She began testing online sales with Facebook’s Shop Now button in 2012 after pitching the idea to corporate.
An Apricot Lane shop owner in Dallas also began selling product online via Facebook at around the same time.
The success of those initiatives eventually gave way to the corporate online store, for which Green now does the buying. Roughly 20 to 30 new items are added to the site daily and Web orders are fulfilled from a distribution center in Peoria.
Having a social media following was crucial for the website’s success, Green said.
“Anyone can just open up a Website, but I think you really have to have that social media following so people know who you are,” she said.
Franchisees who help funnel customers to the corporate Website receive 10 percent of the transaction’s gross sale amount.
E-commerce is one area of focus for Apricot Lane, but its executives are also focused on growing the brick-and-mortar business.
Apricot Lane targets a customer segment ranging from 20- to 40-year-olds and bills itself as a mother-daughter shopping boutique.
Liming said the chain is eyeing between 20 and 30 stores openings in the U.S. this year, much of that led by existing store franchisees looking to expand. A location in the Downtown Disney shopping and entertainment district in Anaheim, Calif. is the sole company-owned location.
The chain, Liming said, has been successful in smaller markets, with many of those areas of the country still untapped. That is why she estimates the brand could support the chain growing to as large as 300 to 400 stores domestically.