Blog | Cuts Clothing

CUTS Clothing | Branding Positioning Tips for E-Commerce Brands


I worked with my dad selling apples to save up the initial $100K I used to start Cuts. Before that, I was at the bottom of the totem pole at a branding agency. Those two jobs taught me a lot about brand positioning, which ultimately influenced how I built Cuts Clothing.In a recent discussion with Ryan Pineda for an episode of his podcast, he asked me several questions about the topic of positioning an e-commerce brand for success. Here is my advice.

**Know Who You are as a Brand from Day One**

I was working at an ad agency back in 2015, and my role involved being on the set of many shoots. I dressed casually while on a shoot, and one day I had to go into the office for a board meeting right from the location. When I walked in my boss sent me home because I was not dressed professionally enough to enter the meeting.This is the origin story of Cuts. A brand that combined the comfort of casual wear with the professionalism of businesswear. What I realized in 2015 was that the workforce was getting much more casual, yet there wasn’t a brand that fit that whitespace. They were either too athletic (Lululemon, Nike) or too formal (Brooks Brothers, Suit Supply, etc). I didn’t want to wear basics either, basic’s weren’t formal enough.There needed to be a brand where I felt professional and comfortable and that’s what I set out to create. The go-to brand for the casualization of the modern work place.What I was defining was our brand positioning + to this day, we start every meeting with “does this fit our brand DNA.”Understanding your brand positioning often makes or breaks brands. Far too often I see brands that jump around creating different lines of products that confuse your audience which then creates confusion in the customer's head.Know who you are as a brand and stay focused.

**Test for Demand Early and Often**

Testing for demand either confirms you are on the right track with your positioning or lets you know where you need to make improvements.Cuts had a test-first methodology from day one. I first launched on Kickstarter to test if there was a demand for our style of t-shirt. We did 50K in sales, which was enough proof of demand to launch the business fully.About a year into CUTS, we also launched “Friday Projects, which is a program where we launch a new product every Friday — which is our commitment to a culture of continuous product testing. This does 4 big things, 1) allows us to test products in small quantities without getting over-leveraged 2) keeps our lower funnel of customers guessing + and more importantly coming back to the website every week to see what’s new. 3) gives us tremendous confidence when we order the products again that they can be successful thus able to capture more demand.E-commerce brands need to embrace a culture of testing if they want to figure out how to best tap into their market. The brands that test the most often have the most success.

**Build for High-Replenishment Customers**

One of the most important things I learned from selling apples with my dad is the value of selling to meet the needs of high-replenishment customers. Like apples, a t-shirt is a product that people replenish regularly. Customers keep coming back to the same place once they find what they like.When you position your brand to target high-replenishment customers, you don’t need to re-market to your base once they’re acquired.Especially since Apples IOS-14 update, CAC’s have risen significantly and returning customers are now much more important to DTC businesses. To maintain a good CAC:LTV brands need to get more out of their returning customers and finding products that people come back to regularly could be the secret to success.

**Don’t Expand Until the Customer Gives You Permission**

Cuts produced nothing but t-shirts for four years. We didn’t expand into other menswear until we repeatedly received messages from customers who loved the quality of our t-shirts so much that they wanted to come for us for their entire wardrobe.Focus on producing one product exceptionally well. Get known for exceptional quality compared to others in your niche. If you try to appeal to too many customers, you’ll end up with too many products. This devalues your brand in the minds of the customer.

**Have an End Game in Mind**

When we got our first office, the company was worth $2 million. I put a big “B” on my door because I decided the only thing that could make me feel like I was finished with Cuts is a billion-dollar exit.Having this end game in mind has allowed me to reverse-engineer my business goals and clearly see the path I need to take to get there.You can[ watch the full podcast episode here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ-UjHH6wsM&t=42s) for more tips on successfully positioning your e-commerce brand in a crowded marketplace.

Check out the article on Medium, linked [here](https://medium.com/@stevenborrelli/brand-positioning-tips-for-e-commerce-brands-ec39e5cabf4a)!