Barbour boosts on-site identification by 26% increasing online revenues eight-fold

Heritage British brand Barbour has improved its on-site identification by 26% - seeing an 8x return on spend in the last 60 days as a result.

The growth has come with the help of a solution from leading behavioural marketing technology provider, Wunderkind, formerly BounceX.

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Barbour ran its own e-commerce customer data acquisition campaigns in-house. However, as it looked to scale its online operations, the fashion brand recognised the need to invest in technology to support its ambitious growth plans and deliver enhanced customer experience on-site.

With an extensive and proven track record, Barbour took the step to partner with Wunderkind to help improve on-site identification so that it could personalise engagement and grow its customer community. The move is seemingly paying off.

Amy-Lee Cowey, head of global ecommerce and digital at Barbour, said: “Acquiring data that is reliable, has lifetime value, and can secure consumer engagement is a challenge for most brands and, at Barbour, it was no different.

“We needed to ensure that the data we were collecting was robust and could stand the test of time. To do this, we wanted to give our customers the best possible experience of signing up and being part of our communication journey, and we were confident Wunderkind could do this effectively.”

Implementing Wunderkind’s real-time identification solution, which personalises the right message to the right shopper based on their buying intent, Barbour has been able to organically grow its customer database, proving especially important as it continued to trade online during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“Like most businesses, coronavirus impacted our trading,” Cowey commented.  “Of course, our stores had to close and, as we went into lockdown, our e-commerce sales did take an initial hit. But, we were quick to recover thanks to a clear and concise communication strategy. 

“It was important to us to put our consumers first and not try to sell anything they didn’t need or want at that time. Rather, we wanted to wait until they were ready to shop with us again. The acceleration to digital has been apparent — even as stores are reopening — and has showcased the importance of e-commerce direct-to-consumer even more.”

Using a targeted welcome journey, overlays and pop-ups, Barbour increased onsite identification rates by 26% and almost doubled its monthly sign ups. Barbour has also used Wunderkind as its own sales channel, regarding the solution as a contributor to “customer lifetime value, growth of its returning consumer base, and channel mix.”  As a result, Barbour saw an 8x return on spend in the last 60 days.

Jacqueline Abernathy, AVP of customer success at Wunderkind, said: “Creating and growing a community that customers want to be a part of, return to, and engage in is the cornerstone of building a successful brand, and Barbour’s customer-centric approach epitomises just that.  We were delighted to help them build a saleable, future-proof and organic way for them to continue to grow and engage their customers.”

While Barbour sources products from across the globe, its wax jackets are still manufactured by hand in its South Shields factory. It was this UK manufacturing base that allowed the fashion brand to step in and support the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic, pivoting production to make gowns for medical staff when there was a shortage of PPE available.