Khajak Keledjian Creates Inscape E-commerce Site
Meditation and all its ancillary products get an omnichannel approach.
Inscape, the Manhattan meditation studio and shop founded by Khajak Keledjian, launched an e-commerce site yesterday. Now, consumers who can’t make it to the West 21st Street location, can still get their fix of Brooklyn Healing Arts Koshi chimes and Moon Juice Brain Dust.
Keledjian has a knack for anticipating the moods and inclinations of young fashion-conscious women. As the cofounder and former chief executive officer of the multibrand designer retailer Intermix, Keledjian tapped into consumers’ desire for photogenic looks — in the days before Instagram — hiring stylists to dress mannequins in the store windows in head-turning mash-ups of trends, combining well-known and emerging designers at a range of price points.
After selling Intermix in 2012 to Gap
Inc. for an estimated $130 million, Keledjian remained the company’s ceo until 2015. He had started meditating to help blunt the stress of the challenging financial climate of the late Aughts. After he left Intermix, Keledjian started noticing friends and colleagues were getting burned out by the relentless pace of the fashion industry. He launched Inscape, a new wellness venture in 2016, believing that consumers would become increasingly concerned about health and wellness.
With his business partner, Lew Frankfort, Coach’s former ceo, Keledjian opened the 5,000-square-foot meditation studio and retail space in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. An Inscape app, which was recently entirely rebuilt, was also introduced.
Inscape’s e-commerce site features product categories based on consumer needs culled from more than two years of data retrieved from the app. The site is clean and easy to navigate, featuring five categories: rituals; get motivated; love and happiness; reduce stress, and sleep better.
Keledjian said the decision to expand into digital commerce was influenced by the popularity of Inscape’s retail. When the center opened, retail was relegated to one wall on the left side of the space. “We now have retail also on the right side. We have the physical studio and the app and a little retail. The retail completely grew and based on that we’re launching e-commerce. We want to capitalize on it in a very mindful way. For me, it’s not all about setting up the sku’s. We’re satisfying a lifestyle.
“Every product has to nourish your mind and your body,” Keledjian said. “Is it going to give you a sensory experience? Each product has to give you an experience. If a pajama and hat have a purpose or meaning behind them, then I will do that. There’s a lot of amazing yoga mats with beautifully printed graphics. We have to figure out how to push the envelope.”
Keledjian said products are organized by end usage and lifestyle. “Do you want to learn about love and happiness or do you want to learn how to sleep better, which is a big challenge,” he said. “People aren’t sleeping, they’re laying down, rather than getting the benefit of REM sleep. I’m living that right now. I’m always looking at what my awake state is and what my REM state is.
“Feeling good is the new looking good,” Keledjian said.”Who would have thought somebody like me would use a brush in the shower. All of these things are becoming part of my day. It’s not only about not getting sick, but about how to remain vital. I’m on the yoga mat from 5 a.m. to 5:45 am. I complement that with rowing or jogging and after that I always have a 45-minute meditation practice. I devote a half an hour of my time to reading the newspaper and e-mails. I take a shower and go to work. I go to sleep between 10:30 and 11 pm.
“I’ve been building the Inscape business and I know people are looking for this,” Keledjian said. “Five to 10 years from now, if people don’t do some sort of reboot in their daily lives, I don’t know if their lifestyles will be sustainable.”