Lessons learned from Sophia Amoruso’s online business

In late 2006, 22 year-old Sophie Amoruso dropped out of university and had a lot of time on her hands. Inspired by fashion and the wonders of the internet, Amoruso purchased a copy of “How to Start an eBay Business For Dummies” and launched her online brand Nasty Gal Vintage. 

Today, nearly 10 years later, the Nasty Gal brand has broken away from eBay, raised over $70 million in venture capital, generated a loyal fanbase of 5 million followers on social media AND inspired an upcoming Netflix series – all with zero debt to its name.

But how did Sophia do it?

Here are the three digital marketing tactics that transformed Sophia’s brand from a struggling start-up to one of the biggest online retailers in the world:

1. Social Media Marketing

Sophia Amoruso was arguably the first to realise the potential of social media in attracting followers, generating content and driving exposure. When starting her business 10 years ago, she used Myspace to connect and drive traffic towards her store.

By today’s standards, I guess we could all agree that this is becoming fairly routine for brands.  However, Amoruso made a conscious effort to read and and reply to any comment she received:

“I just went with my gut instincts and treated my customers like they were my friends… My customers told me what they wanted and I always knew that if I listened to them, we’d both do okay”. (source)

Amoruso connected with her buyers on a level that was extremely personal and in turn, she was able to differentiate her brand from big competitors.

2. Content marketing 

On her social media platforms, Amoruso was creating and sharing content that even non-buyers were attracted to.

Her site included a free styling service that helped customers decide what to wear with outfits so they could leave the store in the best mood possible. Amoruso also employed the use of aesthetically pleasing photographs and content to attract consumers.

Today, The Nasty Gal site has a blog called ‘Nasty Galaxy’ – which is filled with content/stories on empowering women.  Click here to explore

3.  A/B Testing and search optimization

The Nasty Gal team used A/B testing to determine strength and weaknesses in product offerings and layouts.

“[I]f I put a dress up for auction and no one was bidding on it, I didn’t just assume that no one wanted it. I just tried something else. I rewrote the product description, or swapped out the thumbnail….I never assumed that I’d just done my best job the first time around.” (source)

Amoruso also became very skilled at reaching the number one spot on eBay search results. She did this by paying close attention towards customer feedback and in turn, she was able to recognize the most popular search terms.