About Thomas Vellios
In a September 2017 CNBC interview, Five Below CEO Joel Anderson discussed the company's performance and strategy. Anderson stated that "retail is alive" and that Five Below is "on the side that's doing great." He argued that success in retail requires either being in the value space or offering an incredible store experience, and said Five Below does both. Anderson described the company's point of differentiation as value, and characterized the brick-and-mortar store as "the cake" with the internet as "the icing on the cake."
Anderson addressed the company's approach to trend-driven products, noting that Five Below is a "trend right retailer." He cited examples of past trends including Frozen, selfie sticks, and Shopkins, and said the current trend was the fidget spinner. Anderson stated that the company "really follow[s] the trends" and that trends "usually start on the coast." He said he felt the fidget spinner was in its "final innings" and that a sequin pillow would replace it, adding that the product's five-dollar price point is "what's magical about Five Below."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Thomas Vellios's recent appearances.
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Transcript (12 segments)
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Thomas Vellios0:00
You know, retail is alive and there are a lot of retailers doing well. We happen to be on the side that's doing great. I think the success factor in retail is you either got to be in the value space or you got to offer an incredible store experience, and the retailers that do that are winning. I think Five Below is doing both. You go in our store, it's just a store to have fun, let go, and just have not the price — it's the experience in the brick-and-mortar. Well, clearly price matters. I mean, value has been winning for a decade now, and if you can offer value and a great store experience, you're gonna win.
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Interviewer0:41
And you described so you got to be multi-channel. You need more and you need e-commerce to go, but you say that the brick-and-mortar is the cake and the icing on the cake is the internet.
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Thomas Vellios0:53
Absolutely.
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Interviewer0:55
Really? That's not what Amazon wants.
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Thomas Vellios0:58
I think Amazon just bought a brick-and-mortar. I know, right? In general, yeah. That's not the cake. The key — forget Amazon or anybody else — the key is if you're gonna be a retailer in 2017, you got to have a point of differentiation. And I believe our point of differentiation is value. Right? You know, picking up spinners for us. What is this spinner cost right here? That one there is five dollars.
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Interviewer1:23
Five dollars. And what's the margin you can make off this thing?
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Thomas Vellios1:26
Well, that's between me and my head merchants. But really, I'm fascinated by this phenomenon. You have one and you like it. Everybody likes a fidget spinner, right? How long is this gonna last? You know, it's just a summer thing. It's a 2017 thing. Five Below is a trend-right retailer. Three years ago was Frozen, two years ago was selfie sticks, last year was Shopkins, this year it's spinners. How long does this last?
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Interviewer1:55
But your buyers and merchants are saying to themselves, 'I have this spinner thing, it's pretty cool, but by September this is over. This would be in everyone's Christmas stocking.' Still pursued that. How do you think about that?
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Thomas Vellios2:09
You know what? We really follow the trends. Trends usually start on the coast, okay? So we really — why are we in the fidget spinner? I feel like final innings.
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Interviewer2:21
I mean, I think a lot of investors are concerned about the fade or the potential fade in the fidget spinner story. So can you talk to what replaces the fidget spinner or how important that spinner has been to you?
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Thomas Vellios2:33
A sequin pillow is going to replace the fidget spinner. It's better. If you see the sequin pillows, they're so fun, you know? And it's only five dollars, right? And I think that's what's magical about Five Below.
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