J. Crew's CEO just made a drastic attempt to win back lost customers
CEO Mickey Drexler sent out an email to all customers on the company's mailing list, Racked reports, with a very specific request: to email him directly. His email address, Racked notes, is msd@jcrew.com.
Drexler reportedly revealed this information because he wants to hear customers' thoughts on how the retailer's website and stores look.
It's a good time for Drexler to outsource opinions about the company's apparel.
J. Crew has been struggling for a while. In the past, the retailer had been accused of alienating its core customers with garish, overpriced apparel. Drexler went so far to blame one lone sweater for a nosedive in sales in fiscal 2014. For the entirety of fiscal 2015, comparable sales were down 10%.
But the company's problems have been much more deep-seated than one ill-fitting sweater. The company needed to get customers back in stores and shopping to boost sales. The retailer her previously banked on saving itself with a return to its famous basics, but the company's excessive sales had already conditioned customers to shopping at discount prices, making it tough for them to want the by clothes at full price. Amid the expansion of its cheaper off-shoot J. Crew Mercantile, J. Crew has practically been rendered a discount retailer.
"Our job is to give them what they expect," Drexler said on an earnings call in August.
"We said on the last call, 2015 would be difficult, and we're doing the best we can do to get the business moving forward," Drexler said on the same call, adding, "I did say to the team, the only one who really matters here in terms of judgment is the customer."
And now, customers have the opportunity to tell Drexler exactly what they think: if the clothes are ugly, pretty, expensive, too sequinned, or if they've once again fallen in love with the retailer by which they had previously felt betrayed.