How to Build a Customer-Centric Retail Brand: Advice from Ashley Doll

At the core of any successful business is a clear mission. For Ashley Doll, owner of Ashley’s Lingerie and Swimwear, her mission couldn’t be simpler: create an atmosphere of safety and  comfort across the board. Her ultimate goal is to take a shopping experience that many dread and turn it into something empowering.

How? Through the customer experience.

Ashley knew that to stand out, she needed to offer something different. Guided by her values of inclusivity and empathy, she made the customer journey the focal point of her lingerie and swimsuit business.

In this article, we’ll cover Ashley’s pillars of success:

• An incredible customer journey
• Meaningful, transparent relationships with partners and suppliers
• Risk taking
• Ambitions and big dreams

A customer-first kind of business

Although Ashley officially launched her business in 2021, she’s been working in retail for nearly 20 years. As a seasoned expert, she knew that when it was time to go out on her own, she needed a team that understood her vision.

For Ashley, the customer is everything—she wants them to feel safe, seen and supported. To ensure that energy radiates across her three stores, her team goes through in-depth training focused on building a welcoming, inclusive environment.

At the end of the day, she feels her team’s job is to understand her community. “You’re going to get people who walk in and are bubbly and extroverted, and you’re going to get someone who’s cowering,” she says. “We have to do a lot of training and work with our employees because they have to be empathetic.”

Her team is built on genuine interactions. “We bring everything back down to good old-fashioned customer service,” Ashley says. “It’s what you’d imagine a bra fitting would have been like in the 50s and 60s—we’ve got our measuring tapes, the whole nine yards. We’ve updated the process to reflect modern body types and styles in our community. We’re right there when you walk in, and we’ll help as much or as little as you want.”

She strives to find the right product for the right person, but she can’t carry everything in-store—especially with bras coming in countless size and style variations. As a specialty retailer, being able to easily place special orders through Lightspeed has been a game changer. 

With Lightspeed’s inventory management and PO sync, Ashley no longer needs to rely on preordering. If a customer falls in love with a product, she can quickly place an order without hesitation making sure to meet that customer’s unique needs. 

Building meaningful, transparent relationships with partners and suppliers

Even before opening her own store, Ashley had been building relationships with wholesale partners and brands. These relationships are essential—she has to believe in the product she’s selling.

Additionally, transparency, trust and mutual respect are non-negotiables. “Treat me how you want me to treat your stuff,” she says. “I carry a lot of different brands and a lot of them are competitors, but I consciously think of how that brand is going to look against another one.”

She’s always respectful, while standing up for herself and making sure her business relationships are a win-win.

“I want them to have the same respect for me, especially as a new business owner,” she says. “I’m on the younger side of this industry. Many have grandfathered-in discounts and I’ve had to really fight for myself.”

Ashley uses Lightspeed NuORDER to streamline her buying process. She saves time on purchase orders, reorders efficiently and discovers new products using the NuORDER catalog. Because her system is centralized, she can work on her own schedule, with full control over her inventory. This gives her the flexibility to order more frequently, space out deliveries and reduce the need for large orders.

Setbacks don’t mean failure; don’t be afraid to take risks

Ashley embraces experimentation and learning through doing. Now entering her fourth year as a business owner, she credits much of her success to resilience. Setbacks aren’t failures—they’re stepping stones.

“I definitely have a mindset where if you don’t try it, you won’t know,” she says. “I’m kind of stubborn. So when something gets in my head, I have to do it because at the end of the day, if it doesn’t work, it’s not a failure—it just didn’t work. It’s not a reflection of me and how good I am.”

She’s also learned that the best connections with other entrepreneurs often come from vulnerability and honesty. 

“I’ve noticed even more now that business owners don’t like to tell you when they’re struggling,” she says. “But then I’ll say I had a hard year last year and they’re like, oh yeah, so did I.”

That sense of connection fuels her. “Owning a business is the loneliest job on the planet—nobody loves it like you do.”

Ashley is people-oriented and wants her relationship with her employees and partners to feel personal and genuine. “I wish someone told me in the beginning that becoming an owner is actually a lot about learning how to manage other people, and that’s a skill set that I wasn’t mentally prepared for.”

Taking risks sometimes also means seeking support. When she faced challenges securing business funding, she sought out Lightspeed Capital at a crucial moment—right at the height of the buying season. Since then, Ashley has been advanced two additional times with Lightspeed Capital, helping her expand to three locations. 

Room to grow into her big dreams

Ashley is committed to continuous learning. She recently completed a business betterment course at the University of Buffalo to sharpen her skills and connect with fellow entrepreneurs.

“It was amazing,” she says. “You get into this group with all other business owners from the area and you realize the struggles that you’re going through, other businesses are going through as well.”

Her vision is ambitious, but to Ashley that’s the only way to build her empire. “I had this idea in my head that I want Ashley’s to be the new Victoria’s Secret,” she says. “I’m trying to build my brand to really be that empowering place for everybody, no matter who you are.”

Ready to level up your retail business? Watch a demo to find out how Lightspeed can help.