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E-Commerce Opps: Tilly's loses marketing head amid increased digital display spend (Score 47)

Home Franchise Concepts. She started the job in December 2018, and much of the spending information in this article will reflect her strategic decisions during the short tenure. 

According to Tilly's quarterly filing for Q3 2019, selling, general and admin expenses went up $2.5 million YOY, reaching $39.5 million "primarily due to higher marketing and fulfillment expenses...largely as a result of e-Commerce net sales growth." Net sales increased by 5.4%, from $146.8 million to $154.8 million YOY. It grew from 227 total stores in Q3 2018 to 232 total stores in Q3 2019. Its net income increased from $5.4 million to $6.4 million YOY, so Tilly's should have an increased amount of spending dollars for sellers across the nation; view brick-and-mortar locations here. 

Since Nyoklaychuk inevitably helped the company increase profits during her time, Tilly's should seek a replacement soon enough. It certainly will want to continue increasingly its sales. According to its Q3 2019 earnings call, Tilly's "didn't really change anything" from its former marketing plan because "didn't need to," so we should expect similar spending patterns for 2020, even if Tilly's hires a new marketing VP. Its new mobile app will launch during "the first part of next year" to improve consumer experiences, so if anything, we may see increased digital channel efforts to push awareness for this initiative.

We may see higher Q2 digital display spending again in 2020; Tilly's increased YOY Q4 spend in this channel, as well. Dec 2017 - 2018 spend in this channel totaled an estimated $15k, which means the company increased its spend by about 130%, per Adbeat; it spent around $34.5k from Dec 2018 - 2019. Most ads in 2019 were placed programmatically (70%) widely through Google Search Partners ($17.3k) onto sites such as ebay.com ($13k), target.com, people.com, jcpenney.com and sears.com.

Per iSpot, Tilly's hasn't utilized national TV ads. It has a younger generational reach (Gen Z and younger millennials), so it possibly spends on OTT channel airings. 

Sellers -- According to Kantar, Tilly's doesn't typically invest in anything other than digital channels, namely digital display, per Adbeat. Tilly's RSQ brand sells its products through the main website, so its digital display spend is reflected in the total spend noted above. Get Tilly's in front of Gen Z and millennial men and women looking for casual wear. 

Agency readers -- We believe Tilly's still works with Code Four, which provides creative services. This relationship may go under review when a new marketing VP is selected.