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CASE STUDY How apparel specialist Blauer extended its global reach

Blauer: expanding B2B ecommerce

When Blauer was founded in Boston in 1936, as a supplier of high-quality clothing for the USA armed forces and Police & Fire Departments, its founders could not have imagined that at the turn of the next century the company would be a global fashion brand.

That was the vision of FGF Industry, a family-run Italian clothing business with a rich heritage in fashion. Its forward-thinking owner Enzo Fusco, saw an opportunity to take Blauer international, by retaining the DNA of the Blauer brand, and re-imagining it as fashion apparel for a worldwide market.

FGF Industry CEO Giuseppe D’Amore explains the beginnings of their Blauer story: “When FGF Industry acquired Blauer, we were determined to retain the distinct styling; zippers, elastics and reflective materials, and bring the company into the 21st century, building a high quality fashion brand with mass market appeal.”

The challenge

By 2011 Blauer was operating four flagship stores across Italy and the Czech Republic. Business was booming but, in keeping with its tradition of innovation, the company realised that it needed to build its online presence if it was going to continue to grow.

In 2012, Giuseppe and his wife Federica Fusco decided to launch the Blauer online store. They needed an eCommerce solution that would deliver a great customer experience, whilst maintaining its brand values. They needed a partner to integrate everything from web design, logistics and CRM, which would give Blauer a holistic approach to eCommerce with a consistent feel, both online and off. Blauer’s motto is “Uncompromising Performance”, and that’s exactly what Kooomo has delivered since becoming Blauer’s eCommerce platform provider. 

The results

A 205% increase in online revenue was seen from 2016 – 2019. A fantastic result and increases are being seen year on year with further growth already being forecast in 2020.

Giuseppe describes the decision-making process: “Kooomo came recommended to me, as a scalable, future-proof platform that would allow us to align our online and offline strategies. What we got was so much more – a true eCommerce partner that understands how to achieve growth. Our online revenues have soared and grown year on year. From 2016 – 2019 our online growth has increased 205%”

He continues: “Online fuels offline and vice versa, which leads to stellar performance and our sales have increased by more than 25% last season compared to the previous year. We monitor customer reviews all the time, and constructive comments have allowed us to shape how we deliver a great online experience. They have also had an impact on our future collections and helped to improve our product descriptions. Most importantly, this has been a big factor in increasing our engagement and conversion rates.”

Blauer needed an international commerce platform that would work with its global vision: multiple currencies, tax rates and languages. “Within 24 hours you can get your site live in a foreign language.”

SEO & AdWords – How Blauer cracked Germany

In January 2016, Blauer launched a combined SEO and AdWords campaign to drive growth in the lucrative German market. By optimising the German website, it saw a marked increase in traffic and AdWords activity contributing to a 447% growth from 2016 – 2019. 

Germany now represents 30% of Blauer’s online market share. At a time of market uncertainty with Brexit and other factors, Blauer continues to thrive year on year and is an example of fantastic growth regardless of market fluctuations.

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