Performance outdoor apparel brand KUIU has extended its global Direct To Consumer (DTC) and marketing reach into 37 international markets in partnership with ESW, the world’s leading DTC ecommerce company.
KUIU manufactures high-quality, performance outdoor apparel and was founded in 2011 with the vision of creating the highest quality ultralight hunting clothing and equipment, designed to be as affordable and accessible as possible. With high demand for its products in its domestic North American markets of the U.S. and Canada, the brand wanted to expand internationally and cultivate direct consumer relationships with shoppers in key European markets.
However, KUIU lacked the necessary technology and infrastructure and quickly realised developing these systems and processes in-house would take years of time they couldn’t afford to lose, as well as a significant investment of resources. In 2017 it selected ESW because of the company’s experience in localization in over 200 markets, its speed to market capability, and its expertise in knowing what drives scalable and sustainable DTC growth across international territories.
ESW’s solution ensured that shoppers in each market would have a domestic-equivalent brand experience online through a localised checkout. This featured market-appropriate currency displays and locally recognized payment methods as well as displaying transparent duties and taxes, so customers weren’t faced with the surprise of ‘hidden’ fees just before completing their purchases.
In 2022 KUIU extended the partnership to include ESW’s demand generation and marketing services to manage customer acquisition and retention, targeting English speaking shoppers in Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Norway. ESW developed both brand awareness messaging and a strategic campaign for KUIU to support new customer acquisition in each market. ESW created a ‘look alike’ targeting list based on similar brand affinities across KUIU’s main audience segments and customer cohorts. Targeted social media, search and online campaign advertising featuring localised market specific content drove website traffic, grew brand awareness, supported customer acquisition and delivered conversions.
To date, ESW has delivered a marketing ROI for KUIU of 6.5x and in January 2023 ESW and KUIU further extended their partnership to a total of 37 locations globally including KUIU’s biggest market – Canada – alongside the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Moving forward, demand generation activity will encompass email marketing, outlet and free shipping thresholds with an expected move into South America also planned for 2024 as it continues its ambitious global expansion goals.
Christy Ansari, chief sales & planning officer, Ultralight Hunting at KUIU, said: “ESW has acted as an extension of the KUIU team and has been integral to our international expansion. ESW was as invested as we were in making our international marketing programs as successful as possible. Having them onboard meant that we could leverage the ESW team’s years of experience and technology to enter new markets efficiently, effectively and at pace.”
Martim Oliveira Avillez, chief revenue officer at ESW, said: “Having a robust global DTC solution is critical for brands hoping to take market share in an increasingly competitive sector. We’re delighted to see the success KUIU is having and to partner with them for the next phase of their international growth.”
