For Alexis Hoopes’ 13-year-old daughter and her friends, fashion is about the thrill of the hunt. And as the vice president of fashion at eBay, Hoopes knows just how deep and rewarding those hunts can go.
For decades, eBay has been the shopping destination for fashion lovers to discover preloved items again. In recent years, the company has continued to elevate its experience for the growing cohort of resale shoppers, with new features and partnerships including authenticity guarantees and ongoing education about how to avoid counterfeits.
EBay has also hosted a number of luxury consignment events featuring curated collections from celebrity and fashion icons like Elton John and Jenna Lyons. This past New York Fashion Week, eBay teamed up with Wisdom Kaye to style its first Endless Runway fashion show, which was followed by a second pre-loved fashion week event in London.
Hoopes, who joined eBay’s team earlier this year from Mattel where she was the senior vice president of e-commerce after a 15-year career in leadership roles at Nordstrom, has a track record for driving direct-to-consumer strategy and directing digital transformation across commerce platforms, customer data, marketing and supply chain. She also loves a routine, being outdoors training for a marathon and convincing her fashion-hunting daughter to ski or hike in the mountains.
Here, Hoopes gives WWD a look at the musts her personal and professional life and shares excitement for what’s next.
Alexis Hoopes, vice president of fashion at eBay.
WWD: What is the first thing you do in the morning?
Alexis Hoopes: Every morning, I follow roughly the same routine. I get up early, have a cup of coffee, read the news then go for a run. I like exercising first thing in the morning as nothing gets in the way of a workout if you go early enough — except sleep, which every once and a while trumps a workout.
WWD: What is a retail or tech trend that you’re excited to see coming to life right now?
A.H.: Generative AI to help customers find what they are looking for.
Fashion is such a great use case to have the potential of a virtual shopping assistant cut through all the selection and find a couple great suggestions to start a fashion search. From there, being able to interact and further refine the search feels so much more enjoyable and akin to the in-store experience of a personal stylist than needing to filter search results or scroll endlessly through selection.
WWD: What is the best advice you would give someone starting out in their career today?
A.H.: For those interested in careers in retail and fashion, my advice over the years has been the same: go work on the floor. Understanding what customers want, how your company serves those needs — or doesn’t — is incredibly valuable. If the company is digital, find a way to get close to the customer. This could be a role in analytics or listening in to the call center. The more experience you have closer to the customer earlier in your career, the better.
WWD: What inspires you?
A.H.: Watching my 13-year-old daughter and her friends and how they shop for fashion. Their go-to shopping destinations are re-commerce sites and thrift stores. They love the thrill of the hunt and really value circular commerce as they are constantly buying and selling. It is a whole new relationship with fashion with how they think about their wardrobe.
This generation will challenge the fashion industry to think about a changing customer relationship that extends beyond the first purchase and purchaser. That’s disruptive and exciting.
WWD: What do you do to “power down” and what does having a work/life balance mean to you?
A.H.: To power down, I like to get outside and in nature. There is nothing like the power of nature to reset and refocus. I recently hiked the Rim-to-Rim trail in the Grand Canyon, which is a 22 mile one-day hike that is hot, steep and challenging. I did this with six women who are a part of my running group. It was also less than a month after I started a new job and the week I moved into my new house. Not ideal timing, but I am so glad I went.
Work/life balance for me is having goals and priorities outside of work like this that you prioritize above all else that life throws your way.
