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Ann Taylor CEO Reveals Her Most Important Career Lesson

By Jenna Goudreau via FORBESWOMAN
12/05/2012

 

In 1999, veteran retailer Kay Krill gave birth to triplets: Twin boys and women’s casual clothing store the LOFT, which she launched as the little sister brand of up-market chain Ann Taylor. Today she is CEO of parent company Ann Inc., and LOFT is a billion-dollar business. The 57-year-old is also a mom of teenage boys who always makes it home for dinner.

Krill sat down with me to discuss the latest at Ann, what it’s like leading a company of 20,000 women, the truth behind the “having it all” paradox and the one piece of career advice that changed her life.

Jenna Goudreau: You’ve been with Ann Taylor for 18 years, and CEO for seven. How has professional women’s fashion evolved over that time?

Kay Krill: It used to be that women thought they needed to wear a suit to look professional. Those days are gone. Women are dressing in versatile separates rather than matchy-matchy jackets and pants. Color has also been trending. A year ago it was more about colorful tops, and now it’s colorful bottoms. We’re also selling more dresses and skirts.

In the last three years, Ann Inc.’s e-commerce business has doubled. How has that evolved the way you do business?

 

You also lowered prices. Was that to boost unit sales?

Last year, Ann Taylor had crept up in price. For example, in dresses we were wildly successful in the $98 to $138 range, but it had gotten to be $150 and up. We were missing business, so we invested more in the lower range. That was a big win, and we did it across categories.

You’ve talked about how important it is to lead a purpose-driven company. How do you do that at Ann? Read full article>>