Case Study Wholesale Apparel
Wholesale Apparel Case Study Mobile

How we grew D2C online sales for an outdoor apparel brand, allowing them to focus on brand identity and wholesale distribution.

When American Outdoorsman approached us, they:

✅  Were part of an experienced and established holdings company with multiple brands in the apparel and outdoor verticals.

✅  Grossed millions in sales, but were over-reliant on big box outdoor retail stores and 3rd-party online retailers for revenue.

✅  Had tried running ads themselves internally with little success.

✅ Lacked a direct line of communication with loyal customers to drive profitable and repeating D2C sales.

The team at American Outdoorsman knew that growing the eCommerce component of their business would not only increase profitability, but also reduce their overall risk.

The Problem

When the team approached us, they already had a fantastic line of products and good visibility in outdoor retail stores.
Their healthy wholesale distribution allowed them to order inventory from overseas in bulk and be competitive in the market thanks to economies of scale.
They also had a fantastic creative department and healthy input into organic growth.
However, outdoor retail stores and 3rd party online retailers made up almost all of their revenue. Online knock-offs & brick and mortar store closures were real threats.
The brand itself had no direct line of communication with repeat customers. As a result, they had no data-driven way to test new products or to target these customers effectively for repeat purchases.
To try and solve these issues, the creative team was asked to shoulder the responsibility of running ad campaigns on top of their daily creative work.
D2C sales had been good at first, and the internal move seemed to have worked. However, when iOS14.5 went live, their ads stopped working.
They had no idea why or what to do about it.
That’s 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

Following the audit, it became clear to the team at American Outdoorsman that eCommerce growth strategy and execution was going to need to be outsourced in order for this to work.
There was no denying that the products were great and that the creative team was world-class. A long-term, data-driven strategy was required for them to meet their goals of eCommerce growth.
D2C efforts would need to work in unison with their wholesale success in order for both revenue streams to thrive.
RB Facebook Ad

The Solution

They partnered with Outdoor eCommerce as part of our 360 Growth Program. 
Once the campaigns were built, the performance of the brand’s Meta Advertising campaigns turned around and began generating profit consistently within weeks. 
Armed with the knowledge of which products and ads resonated 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. 
In addition, the campaigns began driving revenue from users searching for competitors’ products, or those 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 16% of total store revenue (and growing) 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.

The Results

  • D2C sales grew from $5K/month to $56K/month at a positive ROI.
  • Reduced dependency on brick-and-mortar retailers and 3rd party online retailers for profitability.
  • With a clear understanding of their cost to acquire a new customer and their average customer lifetime value, the team was able to scale with confidence.
  • American Outdoorsman’s creative team was able to focus on branding and content, where they are the most effective within the business.
  • Klaviyo Email Marketing sales went from $700/month to $9K/month, creating highly profitable sales without the additional cost of ad spend.

Once our systems were in place, the brand was able to profitably scale online sales while reducing the workload of their in-house team.

    [LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE]

    11x 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.

    Time Efficiencies

    By handing off the day-to-day eCommerce growth operations to the team at Outdoor eCommerce, the brand owners and operators freed up valuable time to focus their time and energy on the areas of their business where they could have the most impact. 

    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 360 Growth Program to dozens of brands and we’ve seen the results.

    We help established outdoor brands grow their online sales profitably using our 360 Growth Program so that they can get out of the day-to-day operations and focus on the things they do best.

    Outdoor eCommerce Logo

    We help outdoor 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.

    How Do We Do It (Over And Over Again)…

    eCommerce Results for an Outdoor Brand

    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

    Remember When We Said We Could Do It Over And Over Again?

    HawkEye Logo

    Online sales grown from $20,000/month to $200,000/month in 18 months

    This 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 positive ROI and set the brand up for long-term success.

    Fast-forward to 18 months later, and we’ve growth average monthly sales from $20k to $200k/month and the brand is quickly becoming a household name. 

    DCW Logo

    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.

    HawkEye Logo

    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 360 Growth 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!