Dominique Leger: Always In Pursuit
SAINT JOHN–It was on a trip to Boston four years ago where the idea for the In Pursuit truck struck.
Dominique Leger had studied and worked in fashion, marketing and retail. She wanted to take her experience in a new direction.
She happened upon a Sunday market called SoWa that featured about 30 food trucks. One of these trucks was not like the others. This one was white and, instead of serving delicious food, it had a crowd of women surrounding it.
Leger stuck her head in and noticed the racks of clothes. She couldn’t stay long. She had to go back to New Brunswick.
“I noted the name ‘The Fashion Truck’ and Googled it when I came home. When I sat down at my computer to do the search, I swear all of the bells and whistles in North America started going off at the same time,” Leger says. “I found it. A mobile boutique. That was it, the inspiration I’d been looking for.”
In Pursuit is now a hard-to-miss fixture on Saint John streets. The bright pink retrofitted 18′ GMC Workhorse shows up at spots and events throughout the city always filled to the brim with the latest women’s fashion and accessories.
The boutique may be small in size, but making it work has been no small feat. Leger describes her approach to business as “experimental,” learning lots through good ol’ trial and error. She also takes her customer feedback seriously.
“I want my customers to feel like they’re part of the business so I make sure to ask a lot of questions and really take their feedback into consideration,” she says. “Nothing about my business could be described as traditional mostly because I feel as though nothing about people’s lifestyles is ‘traditional’ anymore.”
In world where “normal business hours” are inconvenient for many, Leger brings customer convenience to the forefront.
“I have an ‘always open’ policy, if someone can’t come to the truck, I’ll do whatever I can to make arrangements to go to them instead,” she says. “Sometimes that means late night meet ups in parking lots or dropping things off to husbands and boyfriends or at Starbucks in the middle of the afternoon.”
Leger also has an “emergency service” for when you are invited to a party last minute and you have nothing to wear or spilled wine on your favorite dress. She’s also been hosting private parties with great success.
“My approach is to try everything, at least twice,” she says.
Marketing for in Pursuit is mostly done through social media and word of mouth. Leger uses a sense of urgency to get customers in the truck. She doesn’t have a consistent schedule and the one she has depends on weather and events happening in the city.
“If the truck was open all day, every day, it would lose its charm. It would give people the opportunity to ‘put it off until another day,’ she says. “But because there are only so many opportunities to find me during the course of a week, it encourages my customers to drop by, drop by often, and to more often than not; drop by with an intent to purchase.”
Leger also has a strategy to keep inventory current. She only orders one size run of each style (two small, two med, two large etc.) and never orders the same style twice. This ensures there is always new inventory coming in. It also means everyone won’t be wearing the same outfit.
“I’m very open with my customers about this, and it encourages them to keep an eye on all of my social media posts for new arrivals as they come in,” Leger says. “They’re very in tune with the inventory process, so much so I give them an opportunity to “be the buyer” and will order styles based on the popularity of an item on Facebook that my fans have voted for.”
Starting any kind of business can be challenging, and one on wheels has brought its own road bumps. The biggest thing Leger has learned so far? Nothing ever turns out as planned.
“You’ll receive a lot of advice and feedback. Some of it you’ll ask for, some of it will come unexpectedly,” she says. “It’s easy to get overwhelmed by things coming at you from every direction but above everything else it’s most important to stay true to yourself and to your vision.”
Leger is ready to drive into fall, her busiest season. She has lots of stops planned before she parks the truck for the winter months. And with In Pursuit Celebrating its second birthday this weekend, Leger reveals she is already working on truck #2. But that’s all you’re going to know for now.
“I can’t share any details, aside from the fact that the overall concept is the same in that it will be apparel on wheels, everything else will be completely different.”