Hosted by Nancy Twine

Meera Bhatia: Using Data and Community to Make Retail

As the COO of Fabletics, Meera Bhatia leads e-commerce, growth, technology, supply chain, fulfillment, and global member services to create a seamless and personalized shopping experience. She brings a unique blend of tech and retail experience from her roles at TechStyleOS, Savage x Fenty, Microsoft, Expedia, LinkedIn, and Stella & Dot to inform her customer-centric approach.

Key insights from Nancy’s conversation with Meera

As a guest on the Makers Mindset podcast, Meera talked about why she uses data everywhere she can, how she generates customer engagement, and why she believes in a slow and intentional approach to hiring and scaling.

1. Use data to drive decision-making

Data can help you do so many things: anticipate market trends, be more efficient, and create personalized customer experiences.

“The value of data and AI can be used operationally to drive efficiency in your business model. But those same things can also be used to deliver a better shopping experience, to delight the customer, to do something different, and make it feel different than the average e-commerce experience.”

Takeaway: Turn insights into impact—use your data every way you can. Think of it as a starting point, and find innovative ways to stay relevant and build things your customers will love.

2. Develop products with customers

One way to build things people love is simple: Just listen. Your customers should become your most valuable development partners.

“We are obsessed with talking to customers… We ask them to test the product. We ask about their shopping experience. We take all of that information and weave it into building the best experience that we can for them”

Takeaway: Keep a direct line to your customer base. Make it easy for them to share their ideas and feedback. As you build, get their input all the way through the process.

3. Scale with purpose

If you’re a digital-first brand, physical retail can really help you scale—but you need to get very clear about how expansion will serve your broader business strategy.

“We look at where our cohorts are online as well, because we know we need to have a core base of customers to make the economics of the store work.”

Takeaway: It’s tempting to chase quick growth, but thoughtful expansion is more sustainable. Choose your retail locations based on your customer data and the potential for mutual growth. 

4. Hire thoughtfully

Your company starts with the people. If your team isn’t aligned with the company vision, and if you don’t know what motivates them, they can’t thrive and perform at their best.

“I often spend very little time talking about the actual resume… Spend time outside of the formal interview because you really have to make sure they’re going to fit into the way you want to work, too. Not just know how to do the job.”

Takeaway: Spend time getting to know potential hires. Try to understand what they’re passionate about, their thought processes and work styles, and whether they’re a fit with your environment.

Meera Bhatia’s career is a master class in how to use technology to make the retail experience better. By balancing tech’s “move quickly” approach to developing products with a very intentional approach to hiring and scaling a business, she shows us how to build a sustainable brand that’s truly customer-first.

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