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Hard launching in the UK with a localised site was pivotal for scaling Australian resort wear brand Bydee\u2019s global operations to meet demand.<\/p>\n
To optimise the customer experience and business model Bydee\u2019s UK site went live last week, with a few tweaks tailored to the northern hemisphere.<\/p>\n
E-commerce businesses are navigating new economic conditions that have seen reduced discretionary spending and the Covid-19 online shopping storms subsiding.<\/p>\n
Brands that take a strategic customer-centric approach can benefit from what funds customers do have and with \u2018Euro summer\u2019 heating up – Bydee is investing in meeting market demand with a localised approach.<\/p>\n
Bydee\u2019s business boomed to new heights during the Covid-19 pandemic and resulted in a 700 per cent growth, from 2020-2021. <\/p>\n
This was achieved by tapping into the travel-inspired swimwear niche and pivoting the expansion to markets that resonated.<\/p>\n
Now in its next global growth phase after successfully entering the US Dessy Hairis, Bydee founder and creative director told Inside Retail<\/em>, \u201cWe are expanding into new markets and have our eyes locked on the UK at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Founded in 2013, the first iteration of Bydee was a purely product-focused passion project, \u201cI was making all the swim and bralettes myself.\u201d <\/p>\n In her last year of school, Hairis started selling her handmade side hustle to her friends. \u201cI studied a Bachelor of fashion and textiles and from there I started doing market stalls and that’s the first iteration of the formal business side of things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In 2016 Hairis quit her retail job to focus on Bydee, \u201cI thought, okay, well, I can make a career out of this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n From that point, Hairis hustled across Sydney at three markets per week and retailed Bydee on a basic DIY website, Ebay and Facebook.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time the world of e-commerce was very new and very unfamiliar and I didn’t even think that was necessarily an avenue we could go down,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was thinking wholesale and was taking my product around to stores and I remember being rejected all the time. One person said to me, \u2018Oh, we only take on brands\u2019 – Bydee was brand,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n After five years in business, Hairis invested in a website capable of scaling.<\/p>\n In July 2019 Bydee pivoted and became a pureplay online retailer and hired its first casual employee.<\/p>\n \u201cI’d be at the markets forever and I didn’t believe that model was scalable,\u201d Hairis said adding, \u201cSince then I\u2019ve never looked back and the business just continues to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n Then \u201cCovid hit and we had this travel-inspired collection and I knew I had to pivot,\u201d Hairis said. Up to this point, Bydee had only been focused on retailing to a local market.<\/p>\n With a newfound niche in printed swimwear and surging e-commerce sales, Bydee pivoted to adopt a global focus after the restrictions of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic halted travel and demand for bikinis locally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put $1000 into US ad spend and that went crazy,\u201d Hairis said, adding \u201cI didn’t understand the potential until we saw the return on investment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSince then we’ve continued to grow 100 per cent YOY, with 50 per cent of the business revenue coming from the US currently,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n In 2020 Hairis acknowledged Bydee was \u201cgoing to be way beyond\u201d her spare bedroom and focused on strategically scaling Bydee globally and investing in the infrastructure that would support this.<\/p>\n Localising the website was one strategy Hairis credits for optimising its international growth following the boom.<\/p>\n In August 2020, Bydee moved from a three-by-three-metre space into a 200sqm warehouse. \u201cWe were in that warehouse for three years and by the third, we were busting at the seams, we couldn’t get out fast enough,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring this time a print went viral – we couldn’t keep it in stock and then copycats came,\u201d Hairis \u201cThat’s when it hit – the business had legs and was scalable,\u201d Hairis said<\/p>\n \u201cI remember feeling personally victimised when these copies came out, now I’ve realised that’s just how fast-fashion works,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re a collection-based business, we don’t have a core bread-and-butter basic range to get us through. We’re constantly evolving, launching new prints and not every print hits,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re only as good as our last collection,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n From then on it was about how the next print would be created and how it would be marketed and delivered to customers.<\/p>\n \u201cNot to go too deep into it, but VAT and duties in the UK are a real hindrance to Australian businesses,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhilst we\u2019ve always shipped to the UK, it wasn’t optimised for the customer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf I put myself in that customer’s shoes, I wouldn’t want to order from an international website – be charged to receive my order and then charged again if I needed to return it,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n \u201cAll that and I can’t even get my tax back, it\u2019s a really poor experience,\u201d Hairis added. \u201cWe’ve tried our best to deliver the best possible customer experience as an Australian brand.\u201d <\/p>\n By offering the Bydee customer \u201cthe best VAT pricing structure\u201d and efficient and reliable shipping into the UK – offering the customer two shipping options DHL Express and standard.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s going to be pivotal, the feedback was our customers don’t want to be paying tax on every piece they buy,\u201d Hairis said and flagged \u201cAustralian fast-fashion brands aren\u2019t experiencing this – they have a much lower average order value (AOV), being a high-quality, more luxury swimwear brand we are having that issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s so important for me as the business owner that whatever we do, we have our customers front of mind,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n Now the business will put advertising spend behind marketing to the UK.<\/p>\n Bydee has a retail store attached to its head office in Sydney\u2019s Roseberry postcode – notorious for Australian rag-trade flagships. <\/p>\n \u201cWe opened this door to gain feedback from our customer, it’s been great to have that connection,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n When the business became pureplay e-commerce \u201cit was hard not having face-to-face communication with our customer,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Scaling the business and simultaneously maintaining control of the customers\u2019 experience is a pivotal part of Bydee\u2019s growth strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cWith wholesale, you can lose control in terms of merchandising,\u201d Hairis said, \u201cWe are looking into opening a few flagship stores, but we\u2019re not looking to have 35 stores Australia-wide.\u201d<\/p>\n Bydee’s philosophy is to create products that customers fall in love with and repeat purchase.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve got a 45 per cent customer return rate in Australia, which is extremely high and a 25 per cent return rate in the US. Noting that in the US we’re currently going hard targeting our ad spend at acquiring new customers,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n \u201cOn our new collection launch days, our repeat customer rate soars to about 70 per cent,\u201d Hairis said, adding \u201cour core Bydee babes are definitely coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur average order value is one bikini and we’re happy with that – we want our customers to buy that one bikini, fall in love, become obsessed and then the rest is history,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n Data will drive the next markets Bydee will look to gain a greater market share in after growing the UK, \u201cthere are areas in Europe and Canada where we have high customer traction, but again these places have high shipping taxes – we\u2019ll look at what we can do to optimise those, starting with the UK,\u201d Hairis said.<\/p>\n Brand product diversification is on the horizon that will stem from Hairis\u2019s love of vintage finds and statement pieces to wear with resort wear.<\/p>\n Focused on not diluting the brand Bydee plans to continue crafting authentic, unique products that inspire travel and adventure as a one-stop shop for Europe-inspired capsule wardrobes – with a focus on beach-to-bar outfits.<\/p>\n The post From bikinis on a kitchen bench to global resort wear brand, Bydee boomed 700pc appeared first on Inside Retail Australia.<\/p>\nScaling a small business<\/h3>\n
Solid foundations<\/h3>\n
Digital native<\/h3>\n
In-store next<\/h3>\n