February 22, 2024
Pic Credit: @emijayinc via Instagram
Today we are taking a deep dive into the inner workings of Emi Jay : the IT girl hair accessory brand which has taken the humble claw clip and has turned it into a REVOLUTION on social media. From Hailey Beiber to Kendall Jenner their hair accessories have been spotted on literally EVERYONE! So lets look into what makes Emi Jay a social media DARLING beloved by all.
Origins
Founded by two EIGTH GRADERS ( yes, you READ THAT RIGHT! ) Emily Matson and Julianne Goldmark, Emi Jay was created out of a need to add a bit of INDIVIDUALITY and SELF EXPRESSION to a boring school uniform. The girls were inspired by the stylish hair accessories of the TV show GOSSIP GIRL but wanted to keep it AFFORDABLE. Thus what followed were frequent trips to downtown LA to buy fabric, gems, feathers etc. and that's how Emi Jay started from Julianne's bedroom.
Stats
What started in 2009 as a mom and pop business, subsequently underwent a revamp in 2019 and has led a revolution in hair acessories. In 2021, its ecommerce sales alone were up by 380% with overall revenue increase by 200% with a year-over-year sales growth of 154.7% and this upward trajectory has continued well into 2022 with a year-over-year increase of 250% sales in just their first quarter of that year. The brand now sells to over 2000 retailers, boasts SEVEN figure revenues and donates 20% of all profits to charity.
Product Design
The brand which was initially focussed on younger demographic has now diversified into catering for all ages from babies to grandmas. One of their first and BESTSELLING products was their SIGNATURE elastic bow hair tie which doesn't dent the hair and can also be worn as bracelet on your wrist. This was achieved by OUT OF THE BOX THINKING and using the soft and gentle elastic which is normally found in underwear. Their big break came when celebrity hairstylist Chris McMillan used their signature hair tie on Jennifer Aniston. He subsequently listed it on his MUST HAVE products list for Marie Claire and it was also featured on Oprah's Favourite Things four years in a row. The brand has now successfully REVOLUTIONIZED the humble claw clip which is made out of the petroleum free cellulose acetate thus making it more sturdier, firmer and environmental friendly than your regular plastic claw clip. They are further jazzed up in a Y2K style with Pantone colours of the season and adorned with glitter, rhinestones, bling, gems, bows, etc. and in various textures like tortoise shell and buttery hues. They offer CUSTOMIZED clips which can be BEDAZZLED with one's name. They literally are CANDY JEWELLERY for hair! They also offer kitschy scrunchies made of upcycled fabric. They have successfully diversified into the HAIR CARE range offering a whole line of Korean inspired bamboo and boar bristle hair brushes and a hair care product called the Angel Stick which is a styling balm made with CLEAN and nourishing ingredients like castor seed oil and sunflower seed wax infused with vitamin-E which was specifically designed to keep the FLYAWAYS AWAY.
Business Model
They have a D2C ( direct-to-consumer) business model through their website and they are focussed on taking a humble hair accessory and ELEVATING it to the NEXT LEVEL by adding the ' Emi Jay' touch which makes their products UNIQUE and HIGHLY COVETED. They work with a lean team of 20 people and have secured envy worthy collaborations with Revolve, Sephora, Juicy Couture etc. with a product price range from $16 to $48 thereby creating an AFFORDABLE MEETS LUXURY niche for themselves. They have DUPE PROOFED their business by copyrighting and creating unique, hard to copy designs which take anywhere between 8-10 months to be copied thus making it hard for the dupe product creators to keep up with trends and have created a loyal customer base with 50% new customer rate.
Marketing
They have a strong focus on digital and influencer marketing. They have modeled their production and marketing similar to those of fashion brands by making seasonal collections, monthly drops and collaborations. Their marketing is highly focussed on harnessing the powers of Instagram.
Limited Edition Collabs
They focus on doing LIMITED EDITION collabs with your IT fashion, beauty and swimwear brands like Summer Fridays, Juicy Couture, Frankies Bikinis, Wildflower Cases etc. Their SELL OUT collab with Swedish influencer Mathilda Djerf has created some of their BESTSELLING products like their BIGeffing clip and their cherry claw clip which resulted in Revolve spotting it and signing a contract with them for an EXCLUSIVE collab.
Emi Jay Brand World
They have a community focussed approach with a holistic branding environment which is all about creating a feeling by organizing pop ups where their customers can get a feel of the product in real life. They have fostered a sense of sisterhood with the help of viral Tik Tok videos and UGCs ( User Generated Content ) which involves get-ready-with-me sessions with their favourite influencers. They make their customers SEEN and HEARD by actively interacting with them on social media ( yes, they read every mail and dm ) and taking their feedback into consideration through honest feedback sessions, travelling and socializing with their customers directly and then incorporating them in their designs. By co-creating with their customers they are able to form a tight knit loyal community which people want to be a part of. Case in point their Angelstick. They took their customers feedback for the need of a styling product and spent two years perfecting it thereby making Angelstick which is neither too waxy nor too fragrant and not too difficult to wash while also keeping the baby hairs and flyaways at bay.
Pivoting As A Brand
They are big on adaptability and pivoting as and when the need arises. Case in point, during the covid pandemic they rethought their entire digital marketing strategy and intentionally designed products which their customers can wear at home. Towards the end of the pandemic they launched their Sweet Escape collection in bright, cheery hues recognizing the need that people needed brightness coming out of quarantine thereby creating the perfect high summer collection.
Sparkle Rewards
With a goal to improve repeat sales, online loyalty and to foster a strong community by generating higher engagement, they lauched their sparkle rewards program where their customers can earn sparkles and redeem it on future orders thereby generating an adiitional 10% sales from reward members. They have ensured customer engagement by offering a fully customizable and beautiful loyalty page which helped them in scaling loyalty and generating repeat sales revenue.
Last but not the least, lets take a look into some of our FAVOURITE Emi Jay products.
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
Pic Credit: Emi Jay
We hope you got to know about how your FAVOURITE IT girl hair accessory brand has revolutionzed the hair accessory industry. Hope you found some of your FAVOURITE clips too!
xoxo