From Royal Dress to Royal E-Commerce Success
Rachel Riley, a UK-based childrenswear brand renowned for its traditional craftsmanship, has dressed royal babies and children for over 30 years. Its products can be found in top department stores, boutiques and luxury websites globally. However, dressing the prince and princess of Wales’ three children doesn’t exclude the business from the same challenging economic conditions as other brands.
Like many brands, Rachel Riley aimed to capture the attention of consumers and grow its sales worldwide. That meant capitalizing upon large shopping events like the Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) shopping season.
To do this, Rachel Riley had to adapt its traditional roots to modern-day consumer expectations and shopping behaviors. While BFCM has been a shopping staple in the U.S., the company recognized that many retailers around the globe have also adopted the sales event. To avoid the risk of losing out on significant sales and customer attention, Rachel Riley knew it had to participate to meet consumers’ expectations of deals.
Turning Black Friday Into Gray November
While the start of the holiday shopping season has been shifting earlier and earlier, when exactly to start is the question many brands struggle with. Recognizing the shift in consumer behavior towards earlier shopping, brands running Black Friday Week sales, and shoppers planning to spend less on gifts, Rachel Riley decided to get an even bigger head start.
The company expanded its Black Friday campaign into a full month, starting Oct. 28. The early start ensured that consumers looking to shop early could meet their expectations and those waiting a little longer had enough time to shop.
To successfully execute its BFCM strategy, Rachel Riley relied on high-performing and evolving marketing channels including email, SMS, and web push notifications to capture every sale.
Rachel Riley put email to work, leveraging automated emails to generate success. Because automated emails target individual shoppers only when they take an action — e.g., browsing a webpage or abandoning a shopping cart — brands know they can rely on them to contribute sales even while focused on other things.
Automated emails during this time accounted for 46 percent of Omnisend-driven revenue. Jacqueline Love, e-commerce and wholesale manager at Rachel Riley said, “We see that automations not only drive sales but help us understand what our customers need. This builds loyalty and retention, which are vital for a brand like ours.”
Rachel Riley also used complementary first-party channels to email, including SMS and web push notifications to target active shoppers, some of whom were not email subscribers. SMS was found to be particularly impactful for the U.S. audience, and web push notifications are a growing channel in the UK.
“Adding these channels has allowed us to meet customers where they are, enhancing the overall shopping experience,” Love explained.
Combining strategies and channels, Rachel Riley achieved a 77 percent growth in Black Friday sales. According to Love, “Last year’s Black Friday was a particularly important time for the company, as we tried to grow our business through online sales. We monitored the data closely and adjusted messaging and automations as needed. This kept sales traffic consistent throughout the campaign.”
Lessons Brands Can Take Away From Rachel Riley's Success
E-commerce brands looking for similar BFCM results in what’s likely going to be a tough economic environment should prepare now by planning for an early and extended holiday shopping season. Consumers are likely to begin their holiday shopping in early October and definitely by November. Set up email automations targeting consumers at high-intent stages of the shopping journey, such as when they’re viewing products on a website and/or placing items in their shopping carts. And grow subscriber lists across multiple channels to increase sales now and be prepared by the time BFCM rolls around.
Consumers’ shopping habits are constantly evolving and it’s up to brands to meet their needs at the right time and on the channels they choose. Rachel Riley proved that you don’t need to be royalty to embrace data-driven marketing strategies and early planning to increase sales, even during challenging economic times.
Greg Zakowicz is a veteran marketer and the senior e-commerce expert at Omnisend, the all-in-one e-commerce marketing automation platform.
Greg Zakowicz is a veteran marketer and the Director of Content at Omnisend. With 15-plus years of experience in email, mobile, and social media marketing, he’s helped over 100 DTC companies around the world, including numerous from the Internet Retailer Top 1000, maximize sales through their email marketing programs. Zakowicz is a frequent speaker at ecommerce events, often shares his ecommerce insights across various industry media outlets, has been retained as an ecommerce expert witness for trial, and is the host of Omnisend’s Cart Insiders Podcast.
