Maude Kids Decor: A start-up with an omni-channel approach

The home decor and lifestyle space is a crowded market. Instagram is full of accounts focused on interior design, home building and décor. Fluxuating social media algorithms make it difficult for new accounts to gain valuable screen time with audiences in key markets.

Problem: The challenges facing Maude Kids Decor were two-fold: attracting the right mix of niche vendors and partners and attracting customers to the website, both as a new incumbent with little experience in the retail space.

The Solution: Using a combination of a micro-retail location as a longer term pop up gave new suppliers the confidence of a bricks and mortar store and online customers the ability to shop in person or online. A deliberate mixed marketing approach was used to synergize online marketing with off line experiences. Maude Kids Decor participated in local street markets in the summer months to gain brand awareness and meet customers face-to-face while running advertising simultaneously in both print magazines and social media channels. Partnership with key influencer’s in targeted cities (key markets) took place over these same summer months in a wave across the Canadian provinces to work at building brand momentum. The influencer partnerships were done at very little cost and resulted in direct sales and an increasing customer base across all channels. A focused public relations approach was also used to target key publications of interest in the home design market.

Key Benefits: My approach resulted in the following metrics:

• Average monthly traffic has grown to 10,000 visitors per month and growing

• Instagram flowing has increased organically to 5000 followers

• Facebook channel has grown to 2000 followers and serves as an alternate shopping platform

• Pinterest monthly views of more than 7,000 per month a key

• Abandoned shopping cart recovery rate of 18% when Shopify standard is 7%

• More than 500 orders were made both online and through retail pop-ups and markets in the first 8-months of with the average order being more than $250 CAD

• Vendor partnerships have grown to include key Scandinavian and European brands, many of them first to Canadian market.
  

Many of these results were seen immediately and have allowed rapid pivoting to take advantage of marketing and brand growth opportunities as they occurred.