Why We’re Launching Indyx Insider
Today, we are introducing Indyx Insider, a membership that gives you exclusive access to premium app features, our private community, and discounts on Indyx services.
Nothing speaks louder about what a company stands for than how it chooses to make its money.
With Insider, we are choosing to stake our bets as a user-supported platform so that we can always prioritize building the best experience that is hyper-focused on what you already own. This wasn't a simple choice, and I want to share why we decided to pave our own path.
But first, we have to understand the context of what has come before us.
For nearly 30 years, the dream of the "Clueless Closet" has captured our imagination about how we should get dressed. However, turning a digital wardrobe into a profitable business has already eluded many spirited entrepreneurs. Digital wardrobes of the past have generally tried to make money in one of two ways. And, unfortunately, neither has yet proven successful.
Pay-to-Use: charge everyone to use the platform
Affiliate Commission: earn from brands and retailers a percentage of users’ shopping spend on the platform
The Fallacy of Pay-to-Use
Many digital wardrobes either ask everyone to pay for the app upfront, or have a paywall that kicks in after a certain number of items or outfits. This makes it such that the “free” plan only realistically serves as a trial.
This business model can be challenging because of the high activation hurdle unique to the digital wardrobe category. A digital wardrobe only becomes useful if I successfully convince you that it’s well worth the payoff to take the time and effort to catalog your entire wardrobe. Putting a hard paywall upfront is yet another barrier to you realizing the value of a digital wardrobe, which drastically reduces the likelihood of you embarking on all that hard work in the first place.
We also know that the average wardrobe size is about 175 items. So, even if the paywall kicks in after your 100th item, the effect is the same: you know that you have more than 100 items in your closet, so why start?
While this model may profit from the users who persevere, the user base will never become all that large. That might be enough for a passionate solopreneur to make their own living, but it won’t transform the fashion industry.
Furthermore, putting the pure business reality aside, a big part of Devon and I building Indyx is our belief that everyone deserves a free, best-in-class digital tool to manage their closets. We know a digital wardrobe can transform our relationship with fashion, and it is our best shot at making fashion more intentional and sustainable for all of us!
That’s why we believe it amounts to self-sabotage to paywall the platform this way.
The Irony of Affiliate Commission
The affiliate commission model always felt disingenuous to me as a user and ineffective as an operator.
As a user, a digital wardrobe's leading value proposition is helping you know what you own and wear more of what's already in your wardrobe. We know that constraints inspire creativity. We also believe that most of us already own the ingredients for a great outfit; we just haven't yet discovered the best way to put them together.
With this mindset, putting shopping front and center in a digital wardrobe is distracting at best but also downright hypocritical at worst.
As an operator, there are frankly more direct ways to build a scalable shopping platform without bothering with the high activation hurdle of a digital wardrobe. I am not saying that shopping platforms are easier to build or that the world needs another affiliate marketplace. But promoting shopping in a digital wardrobe as a primary revenue stream feels like a tough climb.
Don't get me wrong. I fully recognize that shopping is a necessary and fun part of curating a wardrobe that is uniquely you. I would never preclude Indyx from extending into shopping in an innovative and completely wardrobe-centric way. But, I believe it is premature to introduce affiliate commission as the primary revenue business model from the get-go.
Building a digital wardrobe, the Indyx way
There is no winning business model for a digital wardrobe, so we invented our own.
Indyx Insider is a freemium model that does not ever make you pay, and only ever asks you to pay after you are utterly convinced that a digital wardrobe is an empowering tool that transforms your relationship with fashion.
In doing so, we are staying true to one of our guiding principles: a best-in-class digital wardrobe should be free and accessible for everyone, regardless of how many items you have and how many outfits you plan.
That’s why, from the very beginning, we designed Insider to include:
A dashboard to fully analyze wardrobe composition, usage, and investment
Custom wardrobe display: drag & drop tiles, a birds-eye view of your closet, etc.
Unlimited outfit selfies
Exclusive access to the Indyx Insider community: our Slack channel, private events, and more
10% off Lookbooks
At Indyx, we are committed to delivering a wardrobe experience that is not only functional and rewarding but also beautiful and inspirational. As you embark on this style journey, we are confident that you will find the premium Insider features invaluable in curating your style and optimizing your wardrobe.
I hope to see you on the inside.