What the farmer doesn't know: The company set out to revolutionize the share economy market in e-commerce with the disruptive business model "renting children's clothes instead of buying them". But how do you convince the rather conservative German customer of something they haven't even heard of yet? For years, German customers have learned to "own" rather than "borrow". And suddenly everything is supposed to change? Investors also want to see success. This is particularly evident in increased sales and profits. So the simple and equally great challenge for the interim manager was: new customers must be prioritized. And the existing customers who have already been won over should not only be nurtured, but ideally turned into influencers. Above all, however, many more people need to know about this business model. The company's calculation models show that Renting instead of buying a lot is cheaper for parents - especially for children's clothing with a half-life of a few months.
4P strategy developed with roadmaps for short, medium and long-term goals
In order to bring about significant customer growth and massively drive forward communication improvements, the interim manager first took a step backwards. Together with the managing directors, he developed a complex 4P strategy with dedicated roadmaps for short, medium and long-term goals. From the analysis of the existing supply chain management to the assessment of SEO/SEA/SEM activities and neuroscience profiling through customer personality testing (neuro-IPS analysis), all influencing factors were scrutinized in detail.
The interim manager worked according to the POST method: People, Objectives Stragety, Technology. One of the challenges was to understand customers according to their intentions, form clusters and develop suitable communication strategies in an efficient and targeted manner.
Proactive communication creates understanding for the go-to-market strategy
In addition, the interim manager had to overcome internal reservations about the initially unfamiliar methods and personnel restructuring. With empathy and a flair for sales, the interim manager managed to find strong allies within the company - and to pursue the new path. Because one thing was certain: the previous actionism with various marketing and sales measures that did not build on each other was in urgent need of restructuring. With his detailed and proactive communication, the interim manager picked up the employees and established an understanding of the communicative and operational transformation of the go-to-market strategy.
Successfully putting the end customer at the center of the shopping experience
The interim manager trained the employees in marketing and sales to always put the customer at the center of their considerations, i.e. to always live "customer centricity". This paid off. Whether it was the web store relaunch, the new TV commercial, the purchase of goods, media placements (ATL, BTL & social), the new content-branded YouTube channel and even the development of the proprietary data warehouse with the help of smart data mining, it was possible to always put the end customer, the parents, at the center of their shopping experience.
Clearly measurable successes increase the company's earnings and attractiveness
Anybody can come up with great ideas or colourful PowerPoint slides. But valid figures are the naked, unvarnished truth. And in the end, they were impressive: The conversion rate increased by more than 60 percent. The resulting orders (order rates) grew by 19 percent to an unprecedented level. In particular, the psychometric findings from the neuro-IPS analysis made a massive contribution to reducing the bounce rate among new customers by 66% and among existing customers by 43%.
The initial bias turned into certainty, structure and success - among employees and investors. The interim CMO played a key role in increasing the client's appeal to such an extent that a leading northern German consumer goods and retail company entered into a joint venture with the e-commerce company.
