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Marlies Dekkers is a pioneering Dutch lingerie and swimwear brand on a mission to empower women. Founded in 1993 by the brand’s namesake, design, fit, and feminine point of view drive the company forward daily, with self-confidence the ideal outcome for each and every new product. The brand sells direct-to-consumer in stores, online, and via its mobile shopping app, as well as in hundreds of wholesale retailers across Europe and North America.
In 2013, Marlies Dekkers set out to reboot the business. For its first decade, the brand focused heavily on offline retail, B2B, and wholesale. While this helped it establish itself, there was a new need to be online where its customers increasingly were shopping. However, the goal wasn’t to just be present online; it was about being savvy online and as a brand.
So, in 2016, Marlies Dekkers decided to explore a mobile shopping app. Although not initially convinced that an app would work in such a niche market, the brand was willing to try. It chose to partner with NewStore on the journey because of a shared belief in design and UX. Additionally, Marlies Dekkers prefers to work with SaaS companies so it can focus on its customers and not on technology, which is exactly the NewStore architecture.
“With our very specific catalog of women’s underwear and swimwear, I doubted if an app would take off. I was very wrong; our customers love our app and it became very successful quickly.”
— Jerome Orlemans, Chief Digital Officer, Marlies Dekkers
Marlies Dekkers has a very specific catalog of products that shoppers tend to only buy a few times a year. But the first year of having a mobile shopping app changed that for the brand. Its customers viewed more products and bought more items more frequently in the app than any other channel. With these positive growth signs, Marlies Dekkers decided to put its mobile app at the center of its 2018 Black Friday strategy. The hope was to move more customers to the channel where people convert more, leading to an uplift in overall sales.
So, Marlies Dekkers launched its Black Friday sale a day early in its app. Using the message “Now in the app, tomorrow on the website,” across all properties, it was able to achieve more sales indeed! App traffic and downloads peaked at the start of the sale, but then stayed above average through to Cyber Monday. And, during this time period, there were double digit conversion rates per customer, which was twice as high as desktop conversion rates.
In the first year of having an app, including its successful Black Friday campaign, Marlies Dekkers saw 50% year-over-year growth, with the app representing one third of total online business. Since then, the brand has managed to keep attracting and engaging customers with its app. The app share of total ecommerce revenue remains strong at greater than 15% on average, and the brand continues to see 6-8x higher conversion on the app compared to the mobile web. This is especially true during sales and promotions.
Marlies Dekkers doesn’t just rely on organic app growth to be successful, though; it gives its customers reasons to download the app, starting by consistently adding quality content. The brand always shows the latest products in the app and makes the best use of image and video content. Additionally, it uses the app to offer early access and exclusive offers to customers. So, not only is Marlies Dekkers helping customers transition to a new channel, but it’s giving them a unique and personalized shopping experience once there.
This unique approach means the Marlies Dekkers app not only drives revenue, but it helps enhance loyalty and importantly, customer lifetime value. The ultimate trifecta for success.
