How we grew online revenues by 12x for an established apparel brand while bringing in more wholesale leads than ever
When Royce Apparel met us, they:
✅ Grossed over $30M in sales but were over-reliant on big box wholesale orders for revenue.
✅ Had tried running online ads themselves, without much success.
✅ Needed a new way to reach more prospective wholesale buyers efficiently.
✅ Lacked a direct line of contact with loyal customers for profitable and repeating D2C sales.
With the ever-present threat of big box wholesale orders disappearing overnight, the team knew that growing the eCommerce component of their business and diversifying their wholesale distribution across a greater number of retailers would help them increase revenue and profitability while also reducing risk.
The Problem
When the team approached us, they had already built one of the fastest-growing brands in the country. They had a healthy wholesale distribution business that allowed them to order inventory from overseas in bulk and be competitive in the market thanks to economies of scale. Unfortunately, big box wholesale partners made up a large portion of this revenue. This meant that at any time, a phone call from the purchasing manager at one of these retailers could pull the rug out from under them.
They also recognized that, although they had a product-market fit, and that customers would return to purchase again, the brand itself had no direct line of communication with these customers. As a result, they had no data-driven way to test new products or target these customers effectively.
To try to solve this problem, they built a Shopify store and began running their own ad campaigns in the evenings. At first, this worked. D2C sales started coming in and the future seemed bright. However, when iOS 14.5 went live, their ads stopped working and they had no idea why – or what to do about it. This was when they approached Outdoor eCommerce.
So we did a free, no obligation, no-strings-attached audit and here’s what we found…
No Creative Testing In Place
While the brand had ads live on Facebook & Instagram, they weren’t sure which creative options and messaging were working best because they did not have a robust testing and scaling process in place for their ad campaigns.
Competitors Were Stealing Search Traffic
The brand had not considered the role of Google Ads in its eCommerce growth strategy and did not have any campaigns in place. Customers who were searching for their products were being served ads for competing brands, and a significant volume of sales was being lost as a result.
Repeat Business Totally Ignored
While the team would send a promotional email every few months, there was no plan in place for how to deepen customer relationships and encourage repeat purchases via email. Thousands of dollars of profit were being left on the table every month as a result.
The Audit
After an audit of their account, we recognized that this brand needed a more holistic approach to eCommerce growth. eCommerce was not just a band-aid approach to get through the lockdowns or a set-it-and-forget-it sales channel.
Rather, an effective eCommerce strategy would need to be robust and data-driven, striving to balance D2C sales with wholesale growth.
A healthy and robust wholesale business would need to flourish by finding more, smaller wholesale clients, hedging against the threat of any individual purchasing manager making a call that could gravely impact their business.
Furthermore, D2C sales began to be recognized not as a quick fix to their pandemic-related problems. Instead, D2C sales needed to become part of the overall growth of the business which, in turn, leads to word-of-mouth referrals, increased interest from wholesale distributors, and the overall profitability and growth of the brand.
The Solution
They partnered with the team at Outdoor eCommerce to launch under our eCom+ Program.
Within weeks, the performance of the brand’s Meta Advertising campaigns had turned around and began generating profit consistently. Armed with the knowledge of which products and ads resonated best with customers and why, the team was able to scale ad spend and begin getting their products in front of hundreds of thousands of Americans each month.
On Google, the brand was able to ensure that every customer who was looking to purchase their products was given a clear path to conversion, and within a short period of time, the campaigns began driving revenue from users searching for competitors’ products, or who were in the research phase of their purchasing journey.
With a fully configured Klaviyo email marketing account, the brand now had a direct line of communication with its customers. Weekly campaign sends generated more and more revenue with each passing week, averaging 20-30% of total store revenue each month. When new products were launched, the brand’s existing customer base knew about them instantly, driving revenue for the business in a very meaningful way.
Within a couple of months of our program being in place, hundreds of thousands of Meta and Google users were being exposed to the brand each and every month. As a result, the company began receiving 5-10 leads per day from retailers hoping to stock their apparel. With this kind of lead generation strategy in place, no one client ever decides the brand’s financial future. Our approach makes booking the first wholesale order of a new client smooth and low-touch.
The Results
- D2C revenue grown from $20k/mo to $240k/mo in 9 months at a positive ROI.
- Reduced dependency on large-scale wholesale partners or the threat of big box closures.
- The founder was able to step back from day-to-day marketing activities and focus on areas of business where he had the most impact.
Once our systems were in place, the brand began receiving 5-10 wholesale enquiries per day from retailers enthusiastic about carrying their apparel.
[LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE]
12x Increase in Online Revenue
Within a year, the eCommerce channel had gone from a small side-project to a meaningful contributor to overall revenue for the business.
Positive ROI
By understanding how much the business can and should invest to acquire a new customer, as well as that customer’s predicted lifetime value to the business, we were able to ensure profitability through the scaling process.
5-10 Wholesale Leads Per Day
By implementing the eCom+ Program, the brand was able to reap the benefits of a profitable and growing direct-to-consumer business, but also a growing wholesale business. As awareness of the brand grew on a national scale, they were able to capture and process leads efficiently to diversify their wholesale business away from just a couple of major players.
Here are the services we provided to get these results
Meta Advertising
Facebook and Instagram Ads are the most effective way to find new customers. We manage your ad account entirely and provide insights and analysis to help you understand the impact your marketing efforts are having on your business.
Google Advertising
Whether your customers are searching for your brand, your competitors’ brands, or the category of products that you sell, it’s important to have visibility at this critical moment in the customer journey. Our Google Ads campaigns ensure your brand is present when it matters most.
Klaviyo Email Marketing
Whether you’re making a strong introduction to potential new customers, or announcing brand new product releases to your existing customer base, you’ll soon find our email marketing program to be one of the most profitable components of your entire marketing apparatus.
Results like these are replicable. How do we know? Because we’ve applied our eCom+ Program to dozens of brands and we’ve seen the results.
We help established apparel brands grow their online sales profitably using our eCom+ Program so that they can get out of the day-to-day operations and focus on the things they do best.
[LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE]
We help apparel brands grow their online sales
If you’ve been doing your homework, you know that online advertising combined with email marketing is the key to profitable eCommerce growth, but you probably don’t have the skills, training, or expertise in-house to make it happen.
If you’ve ever tried growing your eCommerce store yourself before, you’ll understand exactly how complicated it really is – and that by doing it wrong you can cost yourself thousands of dollars in missed opportunities and mistakes. We let eCommerce store owners focus on what they do best by taking the whole process off their hands.
We’ll build out your entire Meta and Google Ads ecosystem, and complement those efforts with a comprehensive email marketing strategy that will help you find new customers profitably, and bring your existing customers back to your store time and time again!
Outdoor eCommerce Founder Milo McMahon breaks down the ethos behind the 360 Growth Program
We’re Experts In…
OEC Founder, Milo McMahon
Outdoor eCommerce is a marketing agency that specializes in eCommerce growth for outdoor and apparel brands. As a team of dedicated marketing experts, we create robust marketing and advertising campaigns that help eCommerce stores grow, profitably.
In addition to advertising and email campaign management, we excel at developing a comprehensive eCommerce growth strategy, so that you can focus on what you do best while we scale your business.
We’ve trained with some of the world’s top digital marketers and our founder, Milo McMahon, coaches and consults for hundreds of eCommerce stores and agencies on how to achieve success selling online.
[LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE]
How Do We Do It (Over And Over Again)…
We combine the right team, with the right strategy, and the right platforms
✓ Meta Ads to find you brand new customers
✓ Google Ads to convert folks who are searching for your brand, your competitors, or your category of products
✓ Email Marketing to keep them coming back to your store for repeat purchases
Don’t Take Our Word For It…
Hear It Straight From Our Clients
[LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE]
Remember When We Said We Could Do It Over And Over Again?
Online sales grew from $1,700/month to $37,000/month in 6 weeks
This outdoor apparel brand had all the pieces in place for eCommerce success – a great brand, awesome products, and a very solid team.
They were spinning their wheels trying to run ads themselves, and within 6 weeks of launching their ads campaigns we were able to generate over 2,000% revenue growth and set the brand up for long-term success.
Revenue grown from $17k/month to $85k/month in 90 Days
This apparel brand was becoming well known in their niche, but were struggling with trying to run ad campaigns in-house.
With the Outdoor eCommerce team in place, they were able to grow their top line by 5x and have a massive holiday season.
Generated 3x sales growth at 30% MER in under 90 days
This marine electronics brand wasn’t sure why their ads weren’t working, or how to turn things around.
The 360 Growth Program helped to get things back on track and continue the brand’s 20-year legacy.
Want results like these?
If you own an outdoor or apparel brand, have achieved product/market fit, and have the resources and determination to grow, you could be a great fit for our eCom+ Program.
To get started, book a free, no-obligation call with our Partner Success Team. We’ll chat about where your business is at today, and what it’ll take to achieve your goals.
We look forward to meeting with you!
[LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE]