I was curious to hear how the new Dot Dash line was doing for Von Zipper, which introduced the lower priced rack sunglass brand last year.
Curt Fry and Vinnie De La Pena gave me an update at Surf Expo last week.
Von Zipper is a premium sunglass brand owned by Billabong. Dot Dash is Von Zipper’s first foray into a lower priced offering.
So what’s going on with Dot Dash?
Some Dot Dash styles
Curt: It was initially started to create a more sophisticated, contemporary look at the rack price level. We tested it and perfected it within (Billabong-owned) retail, then targeted the top accounts in our channel that hadn’t really paid too much attention to the rack category before.
If you walk the show here, you see some of the rack glasses in the resort channel that look cheaper and cheesier. We wanted a better look for our customers at the rack level, and to be able to deal with a company that they already know and are comfortable with. It wasn’t a new vendor or something from outside of the surf arena.
We rolled it into our (external) wholesale accounts and had phenomenal success – we have over 400 doors in the action sports channel that are doing extremely well with the product. We haven’t heard one unsuccessful story.
And accounts are reordering?
Curt: Yes, they are reordering and restocking at a very good rate.
Vinnie De La Pena: I think that’s where we have an advantage is on the inventory side. A lot of people get into the rack glass business, and some retailers might even do it on their own, but they find out that there is an inventory cost and inventory management cost that they now have to now deal with.
Dot Dash has added prints to the line
Curt: I like to say that Dot Dash is a product that gives the retailer a 60% return and takes up a two-foot square in their store. Even if they say, ‘I already have a rack glass company,’ I say, ‘You carry boardshorts, but you just don’t carry only one brand.’ We can roll this (rack) right next to the one you have.
Has there been any cannibalization of the premium sunglass side of the business for the retailers?
Curt: It hasn’t slowed down premium in any of them. I have some good stories from good retailers that already carried rack glass brands, which we were already competing with (with Von Zipper). So even rolling Dot Dash in and giving a better rack alternative hasn’t slowed down premium sales.
You just get some guys who won’t spend $80 to $100 to $250 on premium glasses. They’d rather buy three pairs for $60 and roll out the door and lose them on the beach or whatever.
See page 2 for details about new offerings from Dot Dash
What’s new with Dot Dash?
Color is a key component of the Dot Dash brand
Curt: We are introducing a kids portion of line, which has been well received, called Little Rippers, for $20 to $25. Everyone was asking for kids.
We also added a lot of prints this year. In addition, we offered a more polarization styles, $20 to $35 polarized glasses, which has done well.
Have your snow accounts picked up Dot Dash?
Curt: Absolutely. It has good legs in mountain resort towns that sell product like this all day long.
What about internal infrastructure – has it been a challenge to add this on?
Curt: We didn’t add any other people. We have the same reps, the same in-house people managing it. The good thing is it’s a little more of a commodity business, so it’s more of replenishment, not so much count and fill.
It’s run more off reports than a rep counting and cleaning and straightening up, which takes the time with the full price line. But you are going to turn Dot Dash at a higher rate – it’s simple economics – lower price point, higher sales volume.
The Dot Dash logo
All of our rack competitors sell by price category. You want $10 to $15 glasses? I’ll send you a batch. With us, they can say, “send us some more blue Little Rippers.” Retailers like that because they can tell us what sold well, and we can replace those styles.
How did you guys get the idea to start Dot Dash?
Curt: Just being in the business for so long, we saw we could do a better job, that we could offer better product, a better way to order it, and a better way to replenish it.
Vinnie: I think coming from Von Zipper and being good marketers, we believed we could bring a reason to make the consumer want to buy this through our visuals rather than just buying rack because of the price. With Dot Dash, they can say, ‘I can vibe with this, they are kind of cheeky, I can relate to the marketing’ rather than, ‘I’m going to buy this because it’s $15.’
The plan is to keep growing Dot Dash obviously?
Curt: We are adding new doors and new channels.
What kind of channels?
Curt: Like the resort channel, the college bookstore channel, other areas that make sense.
