Dive Brief:
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Thursday morning, Delia’s customers — or former Delia’s customers? — received exclamation point-filled emails that announced the return of the brand, online only.
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The teen apparel retailer abruptly filed for bankruptcy protection late last year and closed its physical stores.
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The retailer’s new CEO says it wants to refocus its commitment to the tween customer it lost when it shut down — the girl who is done with Gap Kids or Gymboree but isn’t quite ready for Forever 21.
Dive Insight:
As promised, Delia’s has relaunched as an online-only retailer and says its committed to regaining the magic it enjoyed in the '90s as the go-to place for younger teenage girls and middle schoolers. Back then, Delia’s catalog was a pop culture phenomenon for tweens and young teenagers, what marketers these days would call “content rich.”
“In the case of dELiA*s, girl power was about consumer activism more than anything else,” Caryn Murphy, University of Wisconsin history professor told New York Magazine. “The message was to express yourself, but to do that through your clothes and makeup and room décor.”
In fact that catalog, which is still written about in nostalgia-soaked magazine stories and blog posts from time to time, could be useful to the retailer for this comeback.
The brand is bringing back that monthly catalog, and has new outlets on social media to connect with its customers. The brand says that its emails and social media activity this time around will be about more than declaring discounts or making sales.
But it could be tough.
The teen-apparel market is racked by slumping sales and intense pressure for discounts, with kids and their parents increasingly prioritizing their spending money for smartphones and tech gadgets. Delia’s, meanwhile, may have saved money by closing stores, which operated mainly in malls, but has lost the advantage that physical stores have.