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SUMMARY:
This handbag designer used the traditional Black Friday promotion, just like all its competitors…until the team flipped the script with a promo built around the founder’s birthday. |
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Katya Komarova is a handbag designer that sells customized handbags.
Black Friday sales fell flat, with discounts of 20 to 25% failing to spark significant purchases.
Creative Sample #1: Black Friday promotion
When the team saw an entrepreneur offering a special on his birthday, they got the idea to try a similar promotion but added in a discount.
In October 2020, the brand offered a weeklong 36% discount to celebrate the founder’s 36th birthday. One week of sales matched several months’ worth of revenue, so they decided to use this promotion going forward instead of Black Friday and have used it for the past five years.
Creative Sample #2: Birthday promotion
The birthday week kicks off with an email blast and includes social media posts and partner promotions from bloggers and stylists.
“Two more important things we do: we always participate in offline events like Adelaide Fashion Week just before the birthday week,” said Katya Komarova, creative director, Katya Komarova. “And from the first day of the birthday week sale we retarget all website visitors for the last 90 days via Facebook/Instagram campaigns.”
When I asked her about the size of the discount and how that affects margins and profitability, she told me that since the company also has wholesale channels, the retail price has enough margin to offer this discount…for now.
In the last two years they decided to offer the discount only on bags and not on additional chains and handles. People still buy them. And this also allows the team to balance the discounts on the handbags.
About 65% of all sales are made by first-time buyers.
Over five years, the returning customer rate soared from 17% to 45%, with first-time buyers coming back for their second, third, and even fourth purchase.
“We realized, our community is more likely to engage in a sale event if it’s meaningful and special like the founder’s birthday. We will continue using this tool to celebrate the brain and soul behind the brand together with our community. Well, at least until my 50th:),” she said.
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