Mika is a shopping website where users can buy merchandise, including clothes and other items. But it's more than your standard shopping site. It's an exclusive, technology-based shopping platform that is highly tailored to meet individual needs. One particularly neat feature is where, if you visit the company's home page, you will see a video where you can purchase anything in the video (I asked if I could buy the bike in the video, and the answer was yes). There are also blogs and behind the scenes looks. As the company's website states, "MIKA is an innovative, high end shopping website, combining eCommerce and cutting-edge technology. The MIKA platform presents customers with a mix of luxury, ready-to-wear, and contemporary merchandise--completely curated, head-to-toe outfits. MIKA is committed to providing its customers with premier, coveted items and exceptional customer care."
We sat down with Mika's CEO Sani Sanilevich, Fashion Director Thuy Diep and members of the company's marketing team to discuss the Mika model, and how the company is trying to position itself at the forefront of fashion and technology.
Sani Sanilevich: People are always looking forward to what's coming next in technology, and our website and our technology always changes in accordance to the newest technology available. We're working together to create something new that's magical and bringing another experience to the user. What we're trying to do is we're trying to bring it in a very unique way to the user which is always to make them say, "What? It's amazing. It's magical. It's really amazing. I would really love to get it every day to my inbox and to see this amazing thing as you see here." And every time a new technology comes out we are already there. And our curation time and our photographer here already know and think about new ways to shoot it, to display it that can feature this new technology. And we are incorporating with tons of startups in that arena. So when this thing goes live we will be there to use it. That's another thing that makes us very unique. And as you can see it's very simple. It's like, "That's what we have." It's one look. It changes every day. It will be very simple. You don't need to browse through 3,000 items to see what we have, what combines together, what looks good together. Wear this look. You can get all of it or parts of it. And tomorrow it will be something new and amazing. Amazing from the curation side but also from the technological side in the way it's displayed.
iTech Post: It seems kind of like when you go into a clothing store and you see a mannequin that's dressed up, but this is more interactive and it's easier.
SS: Exactly.This is where the idea came from. So we looked at many kinds and we've researched Bloomingdale's and we've seen a lot of people come and ask, "I want what's on the mannequin. How can I get that?" So that's where it all started, and then we said, "Let's combine it together with technology and make it look amazing." We are only working with top brands, so people can trust them. People know their sizes. No need to speculate and guess, "What's the quality going to be? How am I going to look in that?" So it's only the top brands in the industry.
Thuy Diep: We have right now over a hundred brands that we are contracted to work with. We are fast growing that portfolio of designers. And as Sani alluded to we're starting with women's wear, apparel, shoes and what not and we will evolve to include men's wear, to children's wear and then the future for us is really a lifestyle, the Mika lifestyle, and everything that evolves, that is in this life, whether it's travel, it's food, it's living, all of it will become part of this shoppable universe that we're creating.
iTech Post: And it seems as if you're aiming it towards being a club almost, because when I went to the website you had to register for it with an email address to even access the website. Is that just because it's developing or is that something you're going to stick with?
SS: We're testing different aspects. If I had it my way, all the way, I would make it a really, really closed environment. Invite only. But we're testing different kinds of models and how to let people browse it. But it's definitely an exclusive club. It doesn't apply to everyone. It applies to high end fashion, women, men in the future. That's kind of more the idea. But again, we're testing to see what works, what doesn't work, what works best for us.
iTech Post: And this changes every day?
SS: Right now we are in a Beta mode so from May 15 we're going to start changing it every day. Right now it changes about once a week, once every few days. Because we're still doing tests with the shipping and packing, with the brands. Every photo day here is like a big operation. How many new shoots can you do in one day. All those things we're testing right now.
iTech Post: And I can buy even non-clothes items from here? If I were interested in buying that bike, for instance, could I do that?
SS: Yes.
TD: That's on sale. As you can see, everything in this video you will see on the right hand side. So if you love the sunglasses and you just want to buy the sunglasses, you would just click and it says, "Buy item." And then you go in and do your shopping.
SS: This is a different website from the one you've seen so far because we've launched about a month ago and we've seen and tested a few things. And the buying process flow didn't work as well as we wanted, so we just built a new UI/UX and this is going to be launched on May 15. We're always changing, always looking at what works, what doesn't work, what will be nicer and easier for the user to browse and look at. That's kind of our angle and we're going to change it all the time. A few other things that we're doing is we're generating a lot of content, so we have quite a big marketing team here. So let's say Thuy's team and all the buyers and stylists that go to the showroom to choose items that the marketing team will go together with them, do interviews with the designers with the stuff there. We have videos of behind the scenes, but not only video behind the scenes, there are also instructional videos. So for example in this one the hairdresser explains how to do the hair. And the makeup artist will explain how to do the makeup. And you can actually buy the makeup that was used for that production.
TD: The idea is really, we have this amazing campaign, this amazing shoot that looks glamorous, but what we want to do is bridge that gap between the universe that we live in and bringing our customers into this world, and giving them a sense of what it's like to be involved with the process of putting a look together and why we do what we do, why do we choose this hair? Why do we choose this makeup? All of it really is to service the woman who is buying on our site and so there's a lot of content that isn't just about the finished look but the behind the scenes, the people that are involved. All of it is just taken with such care. There's a whole team of us, not just in house but also with the collaborators, with the industry people, that become involved with the process of bringing all these amazing items into these beautiful looks. And so there's a lot of care, a lot of time to be put into it and we obviously showcase that through videos and some different channels to get the content out there to our women.
Check out Mika's website here.
