Case Study: Lead Apparel Grows its Business Online

Problem: Lead Apparel, a retailer of men’s, women’s, children's and even baby clothing, as well as accessories, totes and luggage, wanted to launch an e-commerce website.

Solution: Hired an e-commerce solutions provider to build its website.

Results: Lead Apparel has launched a successful web store to complement its sole brick-and-mortar store at its headquarters in Chicago.

Five-plus years ago, Lead Apparel, a retailer of men’s, women’s, children's and even baby clothing, as well as accessories, totes and luggage, wanted to get in on the action and make e-commerce a part of its business. Projecting a marketplace for the type of apparel the brand offers at low prices, Lead Apparel believed it made sense for it to move forward with a website.

Helping it to accomplish this was ProStores, an e-commerce solutions provider. With ProStores guidance, Lead Apparel began selling apparel from leading brands such as Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Reebok and Timberland, just to name a few, online in 2006.

“We've been with ProStores for over five years because it offers a PCI-compliant environment, which helps to protect our customers’ information along with our reputation and security,” said Justin Morris, co-founder of Lead Apparel, in a ProStores press release. “And the updates and new features help us stay competitive in the fast changing environment of e-commerce.”

Relying on ProStores for administration support, Lead Apparel is able to train employees quickly and easily on how to work with the platform, helping them perform their daily tasks without hassles. Lead Apparel's ability to integrate with third-party applications and/or custom-built applications helps it maximize selling opportunities and provide high-quality customer service. By listening to customers and prospects, Lead Apparel has been able to make adjustments and upgrades to the ProStores platform.

“Learning to customize the store is the most important feature because it allows us to use our tech background to provide an e-commerce website that's above and beyond the normal ProStores site,” said Morris.

This flexibility is important, as Lead Apparel offers 150,000-plus SKUs on its site. This allows shoppers to use a filter/drill-down search to help them find what they're looking for. Plans are also in the works for Lead Apparel to have more promotional functions on the platform to help it merchandise its extensive product lines.

When he looks back at how Lead Apparel developed its e-commerce website, Morris said “execution is usually much more important than a good idea. Get with a certified designer or developer to help make your e-commerce dream a reality. There are so many features, a new store owner may get overwhelmed and not use the platform to its highest potential.”