Negative Underwear was launched in 2014 by co-founders Marissa Vosper and Lauren Schwab. Although the two had respective careers in consulting and finance, they began taking night classes together at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City to pursue a future in fashion.
After realizing that intimate apparel was neglected in the industry, Lauren and Marissa set their sights on creating a thoughtfully designed collection of high quality undergarments for a fair price that was offered direct-to-consumer—which didn't exist at that time.
Following years of partnership building, product design, and business planning, they were ready to go to market. But selling intimates online was unique at the time, and the brand needed a website with an intuitive payment platform that would earn the trust of shoppers.
Negative Underwear chose Shopify as its ecommerce partner from its first day of launch and has since scaled to Shopify Plus. In less than two years since choosing Shopify Plus, Negative Underwear has enjoyed:
- 48% increase in sales
- 30% of all orders contain a pack/bundled item
- 12% increase in average order value
Challenge
Centered on making women feel good in their own skin, Negative Underwear has always operated with the mantra of making complicated things uncomplicated. The idea of “less is more” is fundamental to the brand.
Negative Underwear’s products are focused on function without compromising design integrity, and the team wanted the same to be true for its online sales experience. The brand’s web development partner at the time was We Make Websites, a Shopify Plus Solutions Partner, and its team introduced Shopify to Negative Underwear as a potential solution.
“We looked at other payment partners, but we didn't think that they were suitable for what we needed at that time,” Marissa said. “Shopify was the ideal fit for a small team who needed to be able to run it all ourselves.”
Negative Underwear launched its business on Shopify and steadily grew on the platform. After years of selling with the Basic Shopify plan, the team began experiencing more complex payment needs. It began running into logistical difficulties selling product bundles, especially when layered with other marketing initiatives like referral codes.
“On the back end, trying to manually bundle products became messy,” Marissa said. “We just needed more flexibility.”
Solution
Negative Underwear decided to upgrade to Shopify Plus in 2021 as its sales continued to grow and its business needs evolved.
“We knew we needed a more robust solution. Previously, we had to turn things on manually and check inventory in separate SKUs. If one SKU was out of stock, then we’d have to turn the entire pack off on our site,” Marissa explained.
Examining data points in two separate arenas was time-consuming and required a lot of manual inventory management. And because the information wasn’t synced in real time, inventory could sometimes slip through the cracks, allowing customers to inadvertently purchase out-of-stock items, which then required a customer service intervention. That’s when the company implemented Shopify Plus.
“It was very clear to us that Shopify Plus was the necessary solution,” Marissa said.
With Shopify Plus, the brand gained a unified view of all sales and financial reporting. With centralized inventory management, the team could streamline operational tasks that were once a heavy lift. And the brand could easily include bundled packs into its annual sale, providing a better customer experience for those wanting to purchase multiple items together.
Results
Since migrating to Shopify Plus, Negative Underwear has seen a 48% jump in sales. Over a two-year period, the brand has experienced a 12% increase in average order value (AOV) and seen a 57% increase in sessions.
Additionally, the team is now fully confident that its inventory numbers are accurate, and bundling items together with specialized discount codes to reward customers with savings and boost brand loyalty is no longer a heavy lift.
Shopify Plus has helped to support the growth of Negative Underwear’s sales and the size of its team. What began as an upstart intimate apparel brand is now a leader in the industry.
We’ve always been a lean organization. As a self-funded business, that’s been crucial to our growth story. Shopify has been an instrumental part of our highly considered infrastructure since Day One. Shopify Plus allows us to be scrappy and lean, which serves us well.
