Ivanka Trump Brand Sales: Did Kellyanne Conway’s Endorsement Drive Sales Boom?
Since February, sales figures for Ivanka Trump’s eponymous brand have been skyrocketing. And with sales figures ironically having gone up after Nordstrom and other retail giants boycotted the presidential daughter’s products, one has to wonder how big a part Kellyanne Conway has played in this sales surge.
Last month, President Donald Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway made headlines when she appeared on Fox & Friends to ask American consumers to buy Ivanka Trump’s products. Citing declining brand sales, Nordstrom had previously announced it would no longer be carrying the brand on its shelves, and this sparked an angry tweet from the President, who claimed his eldest daughter had been “treated unfairly.” Conway, on the other hand, took to television to offer her endorsement for the brand and the products.
“It’s a wonderful line. I own some of it. I fully – I’m going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.”
'Go buy #Ivanka's stuff,' Kellyanne #Conway said. Then the first daughter's fashion sales exploded. https://t.co/L1q6k46KTO
— Oxford Publishing (@Books___Books) March 11, 2017
According to Politico, Conway’s comments had sparked controversy, as they had “(appeared) to violate the executive branch’s ban on staff endorsing products or companies.” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also issued a brief statement saying that Conway had been “counseled on the subject, while a number of watchdog groups had filed complaints against the presidential counselor for her supposed ethical violation.
Ethical or not, it would seem that Kellyanne Conway’s endorsement has boosted Ivanka Trump brand sales, according to a report from the Washington Post. Citing data from fashion e-commerce website Lyst, the Post reported that the first daughter’s fashion-oriented brand was only at No. 550 in the world in terms of orders as of January 2017. But in February, the brand had become the 11th most popular in the world.
What was most interesting, however, was the date of the biggest one-day spike, a day when sales had risen by a whopping 219 percent from the previous day. Lyst’s data shows that spike taking place on February 9, which was the same day of Conway’s controversial Fox & Friends appearance and her accompanying remarks.
Indeed, it does seem as if Kellyanne Conway’s attempt to plug Ivanka Trump’s brand on TV was the main driver of the sales spike. But Lyst spokeswoman Sarah Tanner told the Washington Post that such current events-driven spikes aren’t unusual. She mentioned a 460 percent spike in interest in pantsuits in 2016, which was brought on by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s preference for the clothing item. Additionally, Ivanka Trump brand sales were up 86 percent in November 2016 – the very same month her father defeated Clinton in the presidential elections.
Another potential driver, Tanner added, was the President’s tweet last month about Ivanka having been “treated so unfairly” by Nordstrom.
“It would not be a surprise to us if (the above events in February) resulted in the increase in sales,” she told the Washington Post. “I think that’s one of the reasons the brand was largely in the news and could have attributed to this increase.”
Lyst’s Tanner also took a deep-dive into the top-selling Ivanka Trump items in last month’s sales boom. Orders were “unusually large” across most of the first daughter’s branded products, but heels and dresses were the first- and second-best selling products respectively. Tanner said Lyst had “never seen such a large uptick,” and that the Ivanka Trump brand is typically not among the top 100 brands in terms of sales.
While Tanner clarified that she isn’t able to discuss exact online sales figures per Lyst company policy, she said that on a year-over-year basis, the brand’s orders were up 557 percent in February. These figures, however, appear to have plateaued, as sales began “tapering off” toward the end of last month. Still, Ivanka Trump brand sales for the current month are expected to beat January’s figures by about 8 percent.
[Featured Image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
