Find Out How This Established UK Apparel Brand is Using Multichannel to Outperform the Market

Apparel makers are struggling to stand out from the crowd in a saturated and noisy apparel market, but the latest results from one UK brand have shown that it’s still totally possible to achieve impressive growth after over three decades in business and with sales in 157 countries. Superdry was founded back in 1985 but has embraced the realities of shopping in 2018 with open arms, leading it to post an impressive 25.8% growth in ecommerce revenues in the last year alone.

So how are they doing it?

Online-first

Firstly, almost 30% of sales took place online, versus only around a 20% average for the category. This increased adoption of ecommerce sales is both cause and symptom of Superdry’s digital success, which we’ll come onto in a minute. It’s clear that offline retail is not the victim of online success in this case however, as store revenues also rose 3.4% during the year.

Invest for success

Superdry has continually invested in its ecommerce success and is now reaping the results with ecommerce becoming the fastest growing area of the business. With 16 localised websites serving core markets in their native language, and adoption of marketplace channels like eBay across the EU and US and Amazon in the US, Superdry is a genuinely multichannel business with offerings right across sales channels.

There’s more to come too, as the launch of a progressive web app (similar to an iPhone or Android app and designed with mobile devices in mind) is expected later in 2018, further improving the accessibility of Superdy’s product offering.

Integrated digital marketing

So the products can be easily found on many channels online, but that’s just one part of the job. By tying together digital and social marketing campaigns, Superdry has seen a massive boost in the reach and impact of its marketing campaigns, reaching 500 million social media users in the year and driving over 2 million site visits from a single summer campaign. This deep brand synergy across marketing channels drives consumer interest and engagement which is then captured by their presence across sales channels.

Technology to manage it all

It doesn’t stop there – once a customer finds the product on whichever sales channel she’s using, she has to be convinced by the merchandising enough to purchase, and then she has to have a great experience once the order is received. Managing this online is tough when processing thousands of orders per day. Superdry uses Volo to list to marketplace channels and empower their listing team to deliver best practice in merchandising, copy and overall brand presence through the channels. Volo also manages orders and warehousing for Superdry on these channels, so that the customer knows what’s happening with their order and the warehouse staff’s time is optimised for efficient picking, packing and dispatching.

Summary

• A digital first mentality enables the brand to build engagement and loyalty
• Multichannel approach captures that generated demand by being present wherever the customer wants to shop
• Sophisticated technology stack enables listing, inventory, warehousing and order management in one place.
• The results: 25.8% online growth, 30% of sales through online channels, and top-line pre-tax profits up by 11.5%.