Lingerie brand Adore Me discovered that plus-size brunette models are likely to sell more intimates than blonde, slimmer models.
Adore Me, which is based in New York, launched three TV ads in January - one featuring blonde models, one featuring brunette models and another with just one plus-size brunette model, according to The Independent. The ads ran on channels like Bravo, Lifetime and MTV, and Adore Me monitored online sales during the time the ads were shown.
The three-year-old startup tested consumers' preferences by implementing A/B marketing strategies to see which products seemed the most visually-appealing.
The test found that the plus-size brunette model unexpectedly generated four times as many sales as the ad featuring a cluster of blonde women.
"There's an overall mentality that you have to be super skinny," Adore Me founder Morgan Hermand-Waiche said. "We are showing that we offer lingerie for everyone."
Adore Me's wide range of bra sizes - 30A to 44G - proves that the company's aim is to accommodate all women.
Hermand-Waiche also revealed that the sales boost didn't just pertain to shoppers buying plus-sized garments, and that hair color was also a factor.
"Brunettes overall sell better than blondes," he said. "Our customers -- and women in general -- prefer brunettes when it comes to purchasing lingerie. It's what we've seen."
Because shoppers prefer to see realistic women - instead of photo-shopped ones - Adore Me limits retouching its photos and will continue using A/B testing, CNN reported.
The staff of 60 must be doing something right. Its revenue totaled $5.6 million in 2013.
"We will never really have an end result. At the end of the day, things are always evolving," Hermand-Waiche said.
