How Tech Helped Mom-of-Three Raise America’s Fastest-Growing Baby Brand

Caden Lane is a Texas-based online retailer known for its range of personalized newborn clothing along with nursery decor. The brand has gone from strength to strength since switching its focus from wholesale and brick-and-mortar sales to online-only, direct-to-consumer business.

Caden Lane recently reported a 132 percent growth rate — earning the company fourth place on the annual Lightning 50 league table of the fastest-growing online brands.

It’s a remarkable achievement — and one that Caden Lane founder and CEO Katy Mimari says was made possible with technology.

“Baby and nursery trends used to change every couple of months, now it’s every day or two,” says Mimari. “When a celebrity or influencer posts about their nursery decor or shares a snap of their newborn in a cute outfit, it causes a spike in demand or even starts a whole new trend. We use Inventory Planner, connected to our Shopify-powered store, to help us accurately forecast demand and stay ahead of the game.

Katy Mimari, Founder and CEO, Caden Lane

“It helps us predict how much we need to order for every item — even new products — in order to meet our revenue goals. Without it, ordering stock would be based on guesswork, which is never a good plan!

“Half of our products are made in the U.S., but half are imported. Our technology allows us to quickly input the lead times of our various suppliers so we can time our orders perfectly, and use the precise buying recommendations to make sure we don’t buy too much or too little.”

After more than doubling its revenue in just a year, Caden Lane was announced as the USA’s Fastest Growing Baby and Toddler Brand for 2022.

Mimari credits Caden Lane’s female-led, female-run team and its enthusiastic fanbase with driving the business’ impressive organic growth. A slick, tech-backed approach to marketing and a string of celebrity endorsements have helped, too.

A-list moms, including singer Ashlee Simpson, actress Tori Spelling, and model Samantha Harris have all worked with Caden Lane to create stylish nurseries decked out with luxury kit for their new arrivals.

“I founded the business when I became a first-time mom and all but three of my 40-strong team are women, many of them moms and moms-to-be," notes Mimari. "This gives us a unique advantage over our competitors because we’re able to relate to and connect with our customers in a meaningful, community-like way. Our shared experience is poured into the creation of all our products.”

To maintain a steady flow of fresh content for the brand’s 850,000-plus followers across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest, Caden Lane has a dedicated photography studio within its headquarters where real customers and their babies are invited every week for photo shoots.

YouTube videos, including tutorials on taking the perfect newborn photo and how to swaddle a baby, have also proved a successful way for Caden Lane to boost reach and build brand loyalty. It’s part of Caden Lane’s commitment to being there for its customers through the magical, and more challenging moments, of new parenthood.

“Our customer service is second to none," Mimari says proudly. "From offering advice on what color to paint your nursery to being honest about mom life on our podcast, we offer so much more than just ‘baby stuff.’ We’ve built a community; a network of new moms who then happily spread the word about Caden Lane when friends and colleagues become pregnant. Although we have a huge social following, direct website traffic is one of our strongest sales channels.”

After bucking growth trends in the U.S., international expansion, including Canada, Australia and the U.K., is the next big goal for Caden Lane. With a slick tech stack, winning product range and proven marketing strategy, the brand is all set to be born again.

Mark Hook is vice president, global brand, PR and communications, Inventory Planner by Sage, an inventory forecasting and planning software.