Peppercomm educates online experts about off-price shopping and in-store fun to pull fashionistas into T.J. Maxx & Marshalls

With increased sales as a goal, T.J. Maxx’s challenge centered on enticing new pockets of consumers to their stores. “How do you effectively dispel the myths and misconceptions about ‘off-price’ shopping to draw fashion-conscious consumers to shop with us?” they asked.

It’s all about experiencing the brand like customers do.

Before developing a strategy, we at Peppercomm put ourselves in customers’ shoes to experience all of the retailer’s communication touch points (social media, online, newsletters, in-store, etc.).  Based on these insights, the “Thrill of the Find” platform was born, emphasizing the fun and broad appeal of the in-store search for merchandise.

Make it hands-on.  And spreadable.

• Bloggers were invited to participate in one-on-one store tours with design experts and stylists so they could experience the “thrill of the find” firsthand.
• Special media-centric fashion events, in-store events, and Twitter parties focused on seasonal fashion trends and helped to keep the brand relevant year-round.
• H2O, Peppercomm’s creative division, developed seasonal HTML mailers to enable bloggers to easily share fashion content from T.J. Maxx/Marshalls with readers. 

Measurable Results

• More than 60% of targeted experts wrote about T.J. Maxx or Marshalls more than once, often including personal stories of the thrill they experienced when finding the perfect item to fit their style
• Over 380 million earned consumer impressions were achieved during a nine-month campaign
• High level of engagement with key experts; measurable increase in understanding off-price concept
• Average email-open rate peaked at 65% compared to industry average of 10%