Answear is an online fashion destination operating in 12 European markets. It stocks over 200,000 products from more than 600 premium brands such as Victoria Beckham, Michael Kors, Elisabetta Franchi, and Swarovski.
One of Answear’s key markets is Poland, where it was founded in 2021 and has claimed many awards for being a leader in high-end clothing.
The challenge
In Europe, increasing levels of inflation have had a major impact on how people shop. Changes in consumer behavior put pressure on businesses like Answear operating in Poland, where consumer prices were up 7.6% in 2023 vs 2022. To make matters worse, clothing was hit harder than most categories due to concurrent rises in competition and production costs.
With Answear grappling with the economic fallout from inflation, it made the sensible call to prioritize growing AOV (average order value) within its internal strategy. The same goal was transferred to its affiliate program and instantly resulted in several important changes.
Most significantly, Answear ceased its distribution of coupon codes via subnetworks — a call that was made even more pertinent due its proximity to Black Friday, where customers would actively look for discounts.
Despite facing up to engaging new publisher types and new audiences, all on a backdrop of inflation, Answear wanted to increase sales by at least 22% year on year in the month leading up to Black Friday.
Awin knew it had to get creative and promote value in other areas. The team needed to rethink how Answear was marketed to align more closely with its customers’ purchase drivers and challenges. Only then would shoppers have the motivation to spend more without a financial incentive.
The solution
Awin stripped Answear’s challenges and requirements down to three main questions:
- How could Answear target a less price-sensitive customer?
- How could the brand optimize its partnerships with non-discount publishers?
- How could it develop a roadmap to keep Answear growing post-November?
A planning session between Awin and Answear split the brand’s customers into four different groups. Each had a unique situation, a reason for Answear to engage them, and a challenge the brand could solve.
Group A
- Situation: Will make purchases based on what they see online
- Opportunity: They actively look for high-quality branded items
- Problem: They need to see products showcased by others
KPI: +103% sales
Group B
- Situation: Has a clear idea of what to purchase
- Opportunity: They know what to buy
- Problem: They can’t find a good place to buy it
KPI: +50% sales
Group C
- Situation: Haven’t converted due to financial issues
- Opportunity: They still want the product
- Problem: Inflation-driven prices are putting them off
KPI: +23% sales
Group D
- Situation: Loyal to Answear
- Opportunity: They trust the brand
- Problem: Other shops are offering good deals on same products
KPI: +15% sales
Given the varying KPIs and the intention of appealing to the customers’ unique challenges and purchase drivers, Answear needed a dedicated plan for each segment.
Thankfully, the brand was able to tap into Awin’s extensive publisher base to find suitable partners for every group.
Group A: show customers what they want to see
Visual impressions were a purchase driver for Group A. Using Awin’s integrations with key influencer subnetworks, as well as leaning on guidance from Awin’s in-house Influencer Team, Answear partnered with several high-profile creators in the Polish market to reach audiences on the lookout for inspiration.
Partners were chosen based on their ability to produce eye-catching content that balanced authenticity and professionalism, which helped Answear promote its products in a subtle way.
A second tier of the content-driven strategy saw Answear using editorial publishers to elevate its brand and drive upper-funnel visibility. Awin successfully booked placements focused on promoting new collections and recent marketing campaigns to drive a mix of sales and brand affinity. One effort leaned on support from a major Polish online magazine to push Answear’s campaign for women’s equality in a highly visible place.
Group B: give customers what they want
For customers who knew what they wanted to buy, Awin expanded efforts with a key CSS (comparison shopping service). Increasing spend in this area gave Answear more visibility in Google Shopping and a way of optimizing activity with a high-performing publisher.
The strategy checked boxes for showcasing visuals of products and making it easy for customers to see Answear’s favorable prices and shipping costs compared to other retailers.
Group C: deliver a good deal
Awin realized that Group C shoppers, who wanted certain products at a lower price, would either search for coupons or utilize Buy Now, Pay Later services (BNPL) to spread the cost over a period of time.
Answear invested in extra placements with the biggest BNPL service in Poland, which not only provided flexible payment options but also showcased offers on BNPL-eligible products via its site. The brand increased its CPA (cost per acquisition) to promote specific products and categories around Black Friday.
Group D: keep loyal customers onside
While some areas of Answear’s program and strategy had to change, others needed to perform the same role better.
Transforming Answear’s strategy during a crucial part of the year meant that despite having a lower KPI than other audiences, Group D was arguably the most essential to the brand.
After analysis confirmed existing customers’ propensity towards cashback, extra placements were booked with a host of key providers in time for Black Friday. The activities included homepage banners and category pages, as well as influencer campaigns that pushed Answear within the providers’ dedicated content creator networks.
The results
Thanks to Awin’s effective planning, backed by external research and in-depth reporting on consumer purchase drivers, Answear capitalized on numerous opportunities to generate sales and AOV growth.
A well-defined strategy involving content, CSS, BNPL, and cashback had Answear mitigating risks and navigating challenges to generate positive outcomes across each audience. Measured by the sales performance of each publisher group in November vs the previous year, Awin exceed every growth target:
- Group A (+455%)
- Group B (+202%)
- Group C (+32%)
- Group D (+21%)
Sales in coupons via subnetworks declined -66% month on month during November, but the replacement strategies saw Answear growing its overall sales by +35% year on year. Revenue also improved +85% YoY while the brand’s new core metric of AOV rose +26%.
Having observed the success of a new approach in November, Awin subsequently took lessons from all the new publisher activities to sustain Answear’s momentum in December. Numerous refinements have since been made in response to evolving customer challenges, putting the retailer on course to continue delivering sustainable growth in the future.
