How Icebug's E-Commerce Grew by 600%
Covid-19 forced the shoe company Icebug to rethink its strategy. With new focus and work methods, sales through their own e-commerce platform have now increased by over 600%—and Peasy has played a key role in their success.
Icebug, a shoe company founded in Gothenburg in 2001, has steadily grown over the years, and last year, the company achieved a turnover of 187 million SEK. However, with the outbreak of Covid-19, their sales were severely impacted. Icebug’s sales had historically been driven through shoe retailers and sports stores, but the pandemic quickly drained these channels—and Icebug had to adapt.
"Of course, we’ve long been aware that sooner or later we’d need to shift towards becoming more digital and focus more on our own e-commerce. But with Corona, this transformation needed to happen overnight instead of over several years," says Marie Thomasson, Head of Demand at Icebug.
Creativity Drives Sales
Icebug’s solution was to immediately expand the e-commerce team and establish a new work model that could quickly boost both sales and insights into the brand.
"The way we work is simple: we test a lot of things with a short time frame, and then scale up what works and scale down what doesn’t. This applies to everything from Facebook ads and collaborations to imagery and product descriptions. This has created a very creative work environment, which has also led to excellent results," says Marie Thomasson.
She also mentions that Peasy’s service has played a central role in the daily operations at Icebug.
"The first thing we do every morning is open our emails and check Peasy’s numbers from yesterday. We compare the sales and order numbers with our goals and also keep track of which shoe models are selling best and where our traffic is coming from. This gives us a quick overview of how things are going and also provides us with valuable data for deciding where to focus during the day."
Aiming for More Growth
The shift to their own e-commerce platform has shown clear results. In the second quarter of 2020, Icebug’s e-commerce grew by over 600% compared to the previous year. However, Marie Thomasson has even higher ambitions.
"It’s amazing that it’s worked so well, but it’s also a bit frustrating that the reason we didn’t grow even more is because our bestsellers sold out last spring. We’ve sold more shoes than we ever thought possible, which is obviously fantastic. Now that we know what we’re capable of, it’ll be really exciting to see what we can achieve next year."
Do you have any good tips for those running their own e-commerce?
"There are actually two things. The first is to dare to be creative and test many different things. Eventually, you’ll find something that works really well, and then you can go full throttle. The second is to always make decisions based on data. It’s very easy to rely on gut feeling or do what you’ve always done, but that’s rarely the best option. Numbers never lie!"
