NakedCashmere is a luxury direct-to-consumer brand committed to producing and designing the finest, ethically sourced cashmere clothing. Every NakedCashmere item is crafted with attention to detail, from the yarn that’s sourced to final production. Founded in California, NakedCashmere sells collections primarily online as well as in retail stores in Aspen, Colorado and Santa Monica, California.
When the brand’s marketing team discovered that about 10% of traffic to NakedCashmere’s website was coming from outside the US, they saw a unique opportunity to deliver more exceptional cashmere products to customers around the world.
To seize this opportunity, NakedCashmere activated Managed Markets from Shopify, which led to the following results:
- 149% increase in global sales in 4.5 months post-launch
- 7% growth in conversion globally in 4.5 months post-launch
The Challenge: A disjointed experience for international shoppers
Thanks to a strong focus on ecommerce, NakedCashmere sustained strong sales throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as US shoppers bought directly from the brand’s website. These sales numbers continued even as the pandemic waned, but when NakedCashmere VP of Ecommerce Celia Mulderrig joined the company in 2022, she noticed some striking data: 10% of traffic came from outside the US, but this segment had poor conversion rates.
NakedCashmere’s marketing team hadn’t yet invested in creating a fully optimized shopping experience for international shoppers, who faced a fragmented, often confusing purchasing process coupled with high shipping rates. In one example, due to high Value Added Tax (VAT) regulations, UK shoppers had to purchase items priced below a certain level by asking NakedCashmere’s customer service team for a special link. “We technically were shipping internationally, but due to the expense, it impacted our conversion rates,” says Celia.
Another issue involved currency conversion rates, which led to customers seeing a different price at checkout compared to their credit card statements.. The brand knew they needed to solve these issues quickly if they wanted to continue growing their customer base abroad. That’s when they turned to Managed Markets from Shopify.
The Solution: Opening up a world of possibility with an enhanced shopping experience
Improving the checkout experience was the obvious first step to increasing international conversions. Soon after enabling Managed Markets, international sales soared thanks to the streamlined purchasing process, reduced shipping rates, and local currency options were making a big difference.
Getting started with Managed Markets involved some technical troubleshooting as NaskedCashmere transitioned to a new distribution center. But throughout the process, the team was impressed by the service they received from Shopify. “Shopify was really good at simplifying a lot of steps and making it easier for non-experts like us to understand what needed to happen to go live at the busiest time of the year,” says Celia.
By activating Managed Markets, NakedCashmere reduced shipping costs by more than 50% per shipment. Shoppers from outside the US no longer had to buy from a secondary link and could complete the purchasing process through one interface. And since transitioning to Managed Markets, the brand has received no more complaints about currency conversion issues. “Managed Markets has made us feel much more confident as we're leaning into international expansion,” says Celia.
Managed Markets also helped the team discover market potential in regions like the Netherlands, where additional local payment options made available through Managed Markets increased conversion rates significantly. “If we get international conversions up to even a low percentage of what we're seeing in the US, we could unlock significant revenue growth,” Celia says. “Optimizing the checkout funnel, without it negatively impacting our margins, has given us confidence that we can test putting some spend into international customer acquisition.”
The Results: Helping people keep warm around the world
With a clear connection between using Managed Markets and strong growth in global conversion rates, the NakedCashmere team can now map out a comprehensive international expansion strategy like never before. In the 4.5 months since starting Managed Markets, NakedCashmere saw sales increase by 149% and global conversions grew by 7%. The team is now exploring expansion into English-speaking markets in Canada, the UK, parts of Europe, and Australia, taking advantage of seasonality differences to keep sales strong all year long.
By facilitating a reliable customer experience, Managed Markets has given NakedCashmere visibility into customer behaviors around the globe. Celia says that she’s looking forward to using the integration with Managed Markets to easily manage the complexities of selling in other places, saying “We’re going to monitor sales from these regions and test targeted marketing into the next year.”
NakedCashmere will also continue to optimize their operations and pricing models in order to offer free shipping to further simplify the delivery experience. The team also wants to ensure that returns and exchanges are easy for customers. They plan to use Shopify’s contextual storefront feature to surface these and other features tailored to customers from specific locations.
Managed Markets has helped the brand reconnect with their “why” for international expansion. “People like buying internationally because they get something that no one else has and that has a story to it,” she says. “If Managed Markets can help us reach those customers and allow them to discover and try on a NakedCashmere sweater, that’s the goal.”
Managed Markets from Shopify unlocks international opportunity we couldn’t take advantage of before. It gives us the chance to find the right market, as well as niches and seasonality cycles within that market, at no cost to the business.