Over the weekend my social media feed was filled with content around the Skims Accessories Advent calendar. Even though I’m not a big advent calendar consumer I’m very intrigued by the whole idea of them from a retail and merchandising POV. It has a few of my favorite retail angles:
surprise and delight
merchandising as marketing
high margins (!!) — the cost to make the items it pretty low but can command a much higher price point/retail. This all drives profit
acquiring new customers by driving trial
loyalty for your most engaged shoppers
But somehow over the course of ten days Skims enraged a lot of customers. They sold out of a $148 advent calendar and watched people roast it on TikTok and Instagram. In the end they offered every single buyer a full refund or store credit. We’ve got a whole season worth of retail drama we can break down.
In this send: Skims launched a $148 advent calendar. Then the TikTok takedown started. Skims issued a refund or credit. Is the controversy over? What are the retail learnings for advent calendars? Plus: Revolve, Sephora, Laneige, Charlotte Tilbury, a price-vs.-value scorecard, Skims beauty, unboxing videos, and how I would have handled it.
