Fashion Nova influencer marketing strategy

Influencer marketing is the core of the Fashion Nova marketing strategy. The company works both with bigger, popular influencers (Cardi B, Kylie Jenner, Khloé Kardashian, and so on) and with micro-influencers. The latter is basically a group of fashion influencers that wear pieces of Fashion Nova together with other brands to stand out and experiment with new trends.

Fashion Nova staff observes the social media and reaches out to influencers they wish to collaborate with. Sometimes, they contact those who already wear their clothes, like Ivette Saucedo. They offer them their free samples in exchange for promo posts on Instagram.

They also reach out to influencers that hadn’t shown themselves wearing FN before, but they fit FN’s target market (age, skin tone, body shape).

Fashion Nova is very active on their Instagram. They try to put a new post at least once every half an hour. In 2017 Fashion Nova had a network of more than 3,000 influencers.

Fashion Nova influencer marketing and collaboration with Cardi B

The most important figure in Fashion Nova influencer marketing strategy has been Cardi B. She perfectly fits the company’s target market, and she has a large pool of Instagram followers (136 M as of June 2022).

Fashion Nova has a separate section on their site just for their collaboration with the star. Cardi B’s stylist said the rapper always tried to support developing designers and fashion brands. Her personal goal to appeal to lower-class girls and young women led her to Fashion Nova.

Their style fits her so much that she has been officially collaborating with the company twice so far. The first FN Cardi B collection was launched in November 2018. In 2019, Cardi talked about her other collection from FN.

Looking ordinary and casual

An important factor of most of the Fashion Nova sponsored posts by influencers is their style. A big portion of those pics are simple selfies, often taken from a phone camera, sometimes even in front of the mirror. The celebrities are usually dressed casually to look affordable for an ordinary Fashion Nova target customer.

It’s all about getting as close to potential buyers as possible. The posts aim to show regular women in regular clothes. It should look natural so that the target customers could easily identify with it.

#NovaBabe’s – the core of the Fashion Nova marketing strategy

#NovaBabe (or #NovaStar) is the Fashion Nova ambassador program for all women with a decent following and “engagement rate” on their Instagram profiles.

A #NovaBabe can get free clothes, discounts, or even cash for her posts with the Fashion Nova and #NovaBabe tags. Everything depends on the size of her Instagram.

The engagement rate is calculated by the number of reactions and comments that the user’s posts generate. The rate of 7-9% is enough to get paid (even $500 per post), in addition to free clothes.

$100,000 is the end-tier payment per post for a #NovaBabe with the following of more than 50 M. This is how it looks like in more details:

- $250 per post for 10,000-100,000 followers,
- $1,000 per post for 100,000-125,000 followers,
- $10,000 per post for 1.5 M- 50 M followers,
- $100,000 per post for above 50 M followers.

How does Fashion Nova advertise: avoiding press and media coverage

Influencers and Instagram are the only “channels” for advertising in the case of Fashion Nova. Richard Saghian has a spotlight-avoiding attitude. He prefers remaining silent and doesn’t really like getting too much attention from the media.

He also doesn’t do any additional marketing besides Instagram. Fashion Nova currently has (as of June 2022) just five physical stores in Southern California: three in Los Angeles, one in Montebello, and one in Burbank. Richard skips even such things as SEO.

Interviewed in 2018, Saghian didn't admit how much money he had made on Fashion Nova that far. He only said that the company was “profitable.” The same year he bought an exclusive villa in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, for $17.5 million.

Google searches

Fashion Nova placed in the top 10 Google searches for fashion brands both in 2017 and 2018. In May 2019, fashionnova.com saw more than 15 million unique visits. It beat even such fashion giants as Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

Ultra-fast fashion

The business model of Fashion Nova is what may be called ultra-fast fashion. The main feature of that branch is that clothes are treated more like disposable gloves – seven days of a week may mean seven different outfits.

That means that Fashion Nova needs to produce a lot and at a fast pace. They follow this scheme to make everything on time:

1- The social media team scans the Internet (mainly Instagram) and hunts for trends.
2- The design team receives the info from the social media team, and spends less than 24 hours preparing the sample clothes.
3- The photographs of the in-house models are ready in the next 24hrs.
4- The factories (located in LA) come in. The sale usually starts within one week (depending on the volume of the batch).
5- Fashion Nova puts the newly made stuff on sale for relatively low prices.

This way, they get smaller profit per product, but the scale compensates it with a decent margin. According to Saghian, they make 500 different styles a week thanks to that method.

Fashion Nova controversy – designer knock-offs

Throughout its history, Fashion Nova has been accused of knocking off designer looks from celebrities and influencers. It's hard to track the beginnings of those activities, but many individuals have been talking about it.

In 2018, when FN website stormed Google searches, the company suffered a wave of allegations from Instagram influencers. Those included, for example, Kim Kardashian, Luci Wilden, or Jai Nice. Fashion Nova was accused of knocking off African American fashion designers.

Fashion Nova scanned social media, hunted for influencers in unique outfits, and then took a picture with their own model wearing the knock-off version of the outfit (made in 24-48 hours). What's interesting, the models usually resembled the mimicked celebrities/influencers and took similar poses. It's hard to believe that all of that was unintentional.

Still, when confronted by Kim Kardashian, after knocking-off her vintage Mugler dress, Fashion Nova denied the allegations. The company shifted the responsibility to the vendors. They claimed that they cooperate with multiple vendors and that they don't have full control over their work. Kim didn't mention FN by name, but the company's post with explanations came right after the celebrity's tweets.

Fashion Nova vs The Federal Trade Commission

Another loud thing around Fashion Nova was blocking negative comments. The Federal Trade Commission found the company guilty of blocking negative reviews on its website.

The Commission’s final statement is available online. Fashion Nova had to pay $4.2 million as “monetary relief.” FTC made the first announcement about that case in January 2022. The decision was issued two months later.

Earlier, in April 2020, FTC had fined FN $9.3 million for misleading its customers. It was about the delays in shipment and the lack of possibility to cancel one’s order.

FTC found it illegal that Fashion Nova had used gift cards to compensate for the delays instead of offering full refunds.

Authority Bias

People trust authorities and famous individuals. Fashion Nova influencer marketing made the brand look more “trustworthy.” Cardi B gave the company millions of new customers.

Authenticity

High-profile celebrities confirmed the quality of Fashion Nova’s clothes. Cardi B’s “Bronx girl” style, which focuses on being natural and not faking anything, appeals to her female fans. When Cardi B started promoting Fashion Nova, it gave a solid boost to the authenticity of the brand.

Many influencers posted Fashion Nova-tagged pics made in very casual situations. They often took selfies from their smartphones, in front of a mirror. Sometimes with untidy hair and no make-up. That made them look more authentic and “just like you.”

Social Proof

People like to follow others’ actions. #NovaBabe trend showed regular Fashion Nova lovers wearing the brand’s clothes.

The women posted photos on their Instagram and encouraged their followers to try it out themselves. It worked.

Framing Effect

Fashion Nova’s targets are often curvy and plus-sized ladies. It taps into a kind of taboo in the fashion business. The company shows that any type of body can be beautiful if only dressed well.

Many stunning Fashion Nova outfits were presented by plus-size influencers on their Instagram. Instead of hiding or being ashamed of their bodies, they emphasized their shapes.