New Zealand women’s fashion retailer, Shine On has recorded 100% growth in its customer database year-on-year and 68% increase in online orders compared to pre-Covid.
Thanks to a partnership with dotdigital, Shine On’s online engagement grew by 22% more email interactions than usual in 2020. Additionally, the retailer recorded 82% revenue growth since March 2020. The retailer also saw an overall 45% increase in sales across all channels and a 30% rise in online sales year-on-year.
Started by Fee Kirkpatrick in 2002, Shine On began trading on NZ marketplace Trade Me and has grown rapidly in the past decade.
In late 2015, Shine On took a new direction – from one-off vintage clothing to become an online retailer representing major brands for fashion-conscious mums through its Shopify store. In 2018, the brand launched its fashion label – Shine On Label.
Shine On recognised the need to change its marketing strategy in response to customer database growth and the shifting marketplace. With the expansion of its customer following, the brand decided to take an omnichannel approach to target customers with highly personalised and optimised campaigns, so partnered with dotdigital to integrate automated marketing programs.
Shine On now runs numerous automated programs using dotdigital including welcome series, lapsed customer series, and abandon cart.
“Facebook has been an integral part in driving customer engagement via the ‘VIP group’, introduced in 2017. We encourage our ‘Shiners’ to leave reviews online and sign up for our newsletters which flow through dotdigital,” Shine On chief information officer, Samantha Cunningham said.
“A big part of our engagement relies on inviting our customer base for VIP deals and sending daily emails highlighting new picks and special offers.”
Customer loyalty programs, for example ‘Win it back’ and ‘Golden ticket,’ deliver an all-inclusive online and offline experience. While ‘Win it back’ gives customers a chance to win back their purchase, the ‘Golden ticket’ program delights customers with surprise vouchers slipped into product packaging bought from both online and offline purchases.
Another campaign is Shine On’s charity initiative #Givingback. The brand decides the top charities to donate to by running a monthly poll for its ‘VIP group’ to vote for their preferred charity or cause.
Shine On has also implemented location-based marketing to bridge the gap between online and offline. This has allowed the retailer to funnel audiences based on parameters such as postcodes, combined with customer value personas using dotdigital’s Recency, Frequency, and Monetary (RFM) value modelling tool.
As Covid-19 hit in 2020, the team shifted its focus towards online marketing, increasing the subscriber base. The recent Christchurch store opening aided in doubling the database supported by targeted ads on Facebook and radio.
Shine On reserved exclusive timeslots solely for the VIP group members for the grand opening to reward customer loyalty. In addition, the team used dotdigital’s RFM tool to identify and target champion customers within Christchurch’s vicinity for the event.
“The Shine On ecosystem is now cloud-based. It centres around inventory management and fans out to both the Shopify online store and our physical retail stores, flowing through our marketing and support system,” Cunningham said.
“Having our online, offline and clearance data at one place has been a real game-changer. Email marketing is vital to our sales strategy, as we function at a rapid pace, and most of our offers are a result of spontaneous decisions based on how we are tracking on the day or fantastic offers that may come up.”
Shine On has now introduced SMS into their marketing mix to expand their audience reach and deliver more personalised communication across channels. The brand has amended the newsletter signup form to include a phone number, utilising this channel in their welcome series and sending notifications on exclusive deals.