How Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale Became the 'Super Bowl' for Fashion Influencers

In today's fast fashion-filled world, sales happen constantly. But there aren't many sales like the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, which has become a massive money-maker in the fashion influencer community over the past half-decade. There's rarely a style blogger out there who doesn't cover the sale in some capacity—in fact, it's so unusual that some even write posts explaining their decision. The Anniversary Sale differs from other department store sales in one key way, which explains part of the massive attention it receives: The merchandise that's marked down isn't leftovers from a season that's on its way out. Instead, all the items that are included in the sale are brand-new offerings for fall. This includes some big-ticket purchases: leather jackets, cashmere wraps, Tory Burch bags, designer denim, among many others. This strategy of dropping prices when merchandise first hits the market is one that's unique to Nordstrom. "Nordstrom had a really revolutionary idea with discounting products at the beginning of the season," Caitlin Covington, the blogger behind Southern Curls and Pearls (with an Instagram following of nearly 900,000), said. "All of the items are brand-new, and they're automatically on sale, which makes it so much more exciting than if the products were to come out at a normal price and then be discounted later on." [kickout id="2"] The first-ever Anniversary Sale happened in the 1960s, Nordstrom spokesperson John Bailey, explained. But over the past few years, it's risen to new heights, thanks in large part to the influencer community. It's become such a big deal that Bailey said the brand has "heard from some customers that they schedule their summer vacations around it." The number of products available during the sale is massive—just the women's section alone has over 3,600 items. The selection is carefully curated by Nordstrom buyers, according to Bailey, starting a year in advance. Nordstrom also partners with several designers and sought-after brands during the sale, giving shoppers what may be one of their only opportunities to buy these pieces at a discount all year. It first opens up to Nordstrom cardholders in a weeklong "Early Access" period. This year, that began on July 12. On July 20, it opens up to everyone. Nordstrom doesn't share sales numbers, but the buzz around the sale seems to be more present than ever: The Nordstrom website crashing on the first day of the Early Access sale is proof of that. This ever-growing popularity is thanks in large part to fashion bloggers and influencers who have capitalized on it to boost their own brands, turning it into one of the year's biggest shopping events. "It's the Super Bowl of blogging," said Covington. "You prepare for it all year." It's such an event for these bloggers because of how well the sale converts for them. This is thanks to affiliate networks like rewardStyle. When a consumer clicks through to Nordstrom (or 4,000 other retailers) using a blogger-generated link from rewardStyle and then makes a purchase, the blogger in question will get a cut of the sale. Many of the world's most influential fashion bloggers work with rewardStyle, and the company views the Anniversary Sale as one of their milestones of the year. "Nordstrom has been an innovative rewardStyle partner for more than five years now," Amber Venz Box, co-founder and president of rewardStyle and LIKEtoKNOW.it, said in a statement. "The consumer retail success that we have been able to build together around key moments, including the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, has become a phenomenon, by providing their customers with new on-trend merchandise from the best brands at super-sale prices." Once bloggers began to realize just how well the sale would convert for them, many became more proactive about teaching their followers and readers about the sale, helping to grow its overall popularity. Now, some of the most popular items sell out in the first few days of the Early Access sale. [kickout id="3"] "Over time, bloggers were empowered through affiliates to really educate their readers about the sale," said Jean Wang, creator of petites-focused site Extra Petite, who has nearly 500,000 Instagram followers. "In the beginning, no one really knew about it unless you were just a religious Nordstrom shopper. But four or five years ago, influencers really started teaching their readers about why it's a special sale." That education and promotion has paid off—literally. Covington told Adweek that the revenue she generates through the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale makes up a whopping quarter of her annual income. With the sale serving as a cornerstone of her business, Covington starts planning for the sale a month in advance. She maps out her posts—both blog and Instagram—on a paper editorial calendar. Ahead of the sale, she does an educational blog post: the dates to know, shopping tactics and products to look for. On the first day of the sale, she publishes a massive Anniversary Sale guide, featuring try-on photos, sizing information and plenty of product links. This year that post hit her highest number of page views in a single day. That guide is just the beginning. After it's published, she'll continue sharing sale-related content, this time on topics like her beauty picks, her mom's favorite buys or focusing on a favorite purchase. [kickout id="5"] "I'll show how the candles look in my bathroom, or how the Barefoot Dreams cardigan looks on my sofa," she said. "I try to come up with blog posts that show how I use the products in my everyday life." The revenue potential is so massive that bloggers will put in extra effort to get their content up ahead of time or just as it's going live. Several Nordstrom stores will invite level four Nordstrom cardholders (those who spend over $10,000 in a year) and local top-tier influencers to shop the sale in-person a day early. Emily Gemma, who created The Sweetest Thing and has over 600,000 Instagram followers, lives four hours away from the closest Nordstrom. So this year she and her assistant drove to Dallas, spent the night so they could start shopping at 8 a.m. and got the items she'd need to create content for her blog by the time the sale was live. She spent four hours shopping the sale, drove back home to Oklahoma and took a nap. At midnight, she did full hair and makeup and shot several mirror selfies to capture her purchases. At 2 a.m., when the sale went live, she published her first post about the items she predicted would sell out quickly. (One of them, a pair of jeans, did sell out within a few hours.) And like Covington, she continues to post throughout the sale on her blog and Instagram. She aims for three Instagram posts a day as well as Instagram Stories. Covington, Gemma and Wang all said that 2014 and 2015 was a turning point for their businesses when it came to the Nordstrom sale. [kickout id="1"] "The numbers spoke for themselves," Gemma said. "It was incredible to see my readers pinning things, buying things, and my sales increased by leaps. I saw a huge jump and realized how beneficial it was. Now I do it every single year. My readers count on it." Nordstrom partners with influencers year-round and has for years. Bailey said, "We know that a lot of our customers are looking to influencers for fashion and lifestyle information and we want to be where our customers want us to be." But in preparing for the sale, Covington, Gemma and Wang all said that they don't work with Nordstrom's press team to plan their content. Like all other consumers, their first peek at what's available comes when Nordstrom releases the catalog a few weeks before the sale begins. An advantage they do get, however, is the aforementioned opportunity to shop the sale a day early. [kickout id="4"] As the Anniversary Sale dominates blogs and Instagram feeds throughout its three-week run, sometimes that is accompanied by backlash. YouTuber and fashion blogger Sarah Belle doesn't promote the sale on her own channels and gets frustrated with how inundated her feed gets with Nordstrom sale-related content when it rolls around every year. For Sarah, it's also about authenticity. She doesn't shop the sale herself and feels it would be disingenuous to promote it. Because of that, giving up the potential uptick in commission is worth it. "It's never been my thing, and there's plenty of other people doing it," she said. "I don't get how promoting things I personally wouldn't buy would benefit my followers." Gemma said she's seen some of her followers comment on the sheer volume of posts concerning the sale overall, with a few complaining about bloggers who are posting about it days, and even weeks, before it goes live. That feedback helps to inform Gemma's own strategy. She tries not to post about the sale until the day it goes live. And when she does post, she said that the vast majority of her followers are grateful for it. "[Before the sale], I try to lay low and just be quiet about it," she said. "I'd rather have a few good quality posts that I love when they can actually purchase the merchandise, instead of talking about the sale when it's not even ready." However, the commission many bloggers see during the sale is proof: Shoppers really do love it. Covington and Wang both said they also don't see much negative feedback. Covington, in fact, sees it more from fellow bloggers than she does readers. And in the end, any comments don't do much to drown out the many more voices who do want to hear about the sale—and are shopping it. "They love it, they soak it up, they want to see more," Covington said. "Four years ago, it wasn't that big of a deal, but every year it gets bigger."

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How Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale Became the 'Super Bowl' for Fashion Influencers

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Diana Pearl

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