IN 2014, SARAH LAFLEUR was facing the prospect that her women’s clothing brand, MM.LaFleur, might go out of business. When the New York City–based company did trunk shows, customers—mostly working women who wanted to dress well but abhorred shopping—typically returned for a second purchase. But when it came to MM.LaFleur’s primary business, e-commerce, it couldn’t figure out how to recruit new customers.
So, LaFleur’s team decided to experiment: They emailed their most loyal shoppers and asked if the company could send them a box of clothing selected for them by a stylist. More than 18 percent opted in.
Today, the Bento Boxes, as they’re called, account for 80 percent of the company’s new sales, and since they were launched, 40 percent of first-time customers return within twelve weeks to make another purchase. MM.LaFleur has now stepped back from the precipice and is on track to pull in more than $70 million in 2017.
LaFleur thought up the growth idea thanks to her childhood in Japan, where she packed multicompartment bento lunches for school. The company’s bentos are similar, with layered boxes separating clothes and accessories. It’s cheeky, but also highly functional: The design helps the clothes arrive unwrinkled. The garments come packed neatly in reusable, zippered plastic bags—a small but practical luxury, according to customers who repurpose them to store gym clothes or to separate items in a suitcase.
The company is also employing other growth strategies. After testing a brick-and-mortar showroom in New York City, MM.LaFleur found that women who booked appointments there often spent up to three times more than online-only shoppers. So in 2016 it opened a permanent showroom in Washington, D.C., and has long-term pop-ups planned for Boston and other locations around the country. Women get free one-hour sessions with personal stylists who select clothing for them ahead of time, along with bottomless glasses of Prosecco. “We do our best to communicate over email,” says LaFleur. “But nothing replicates the offline service.”