E Commerce that does more than sell

Originating from Sweden, Craft Sportswear is a brand born out of a passion for athletic performance. Since 1973, when founder Anders Bengtsson perfected the first Nordic baselayer, Craft has been working alongside world class athletes and everyday heroes to continually design, develop and manufacture cutting-edge apparel and accessories.

Craft is now a worldwide, recognized brand seen at major sporting events across the globe and covering some of the world's greatest athletes. In 2018, Craft began a more focussed approach in the Canadian market and this is where our story began.

The Challenge

Under the North American umbrella, Craft had proven itself very popular in the Canadian market. Craft had become increasingly well known for their apparel in the Nordic sector as well as performance baselayers, however they now faced two new problems. Firstly, embarking into D2C sales and navigating all of the associated challenges this brings. Secondly how to build awareness and assert themselves, as they had done in the Nordic realm, in new crowded verticals such as bike, run and training. Origin’s challenge was as follows:

Make a Swedish brand relevant to a Canadian market.
Communicate the launch of new product verticals and their cross-over functionality
Do more than just sell. Given that this was Craft’s first time communicating directly to consumers, our goal was to build an emotive connection with customers as well as a transactional one
Don’t take away from those loyal retailers who have been selling Craft products for years. We had to ensure this site would further the vision, increase exposure and drive sales to smaller retailers across the county

Project Goals

Storytelling

Act as a storytelling outlet for both products and heritage

Cross Over Functionality

Showcase the flexibility of the Craft product in different sports, push sales into emerging verticals i.e cycling and show-year round versatility

Canadian Identity

Add a Canadian flavour to the Craft brand and connect with a Canadian market

Drive Revenue

Provide a frictionless platform for Craft Canada’s online sales, support those loyal retailers who stocked the Craft apparel and tap into the custom sublimation market

The Solution

Enable & Inspire

Our goal was to reorganize the site structure to provide two primary paths into the site, organizing product and content to both inspire exploration and enable confident purchase decisions.

Enable

Facilitate quick understanding and selection of products beyond the basic size and colour. Provide context at all points along the path to purchase, allowing confident and joyful decisions.

Inspire

Provide an exploratory path that welcomes and introduces visitors to the Craft brand and guides them through the site by presenting relevant (Canadian) stories and information at key moments along the way, always focusing on the ‘why’.

“Our guiding thought: A modern, welcoming experience that combines innovative products with storytelling and lifestyle photography, highlighting our Canadian values and Swedish heritage.”

Utility & Experience

Confidence

Organized in understandable and accessible manner.

Desirability

Presented in a way that creates positive emotion, desire and credibility.

Credibility

Useful and relevant content that is valuable.

Relevance & Discovery

Products

Contextual information is presented at the right time to confirm customer need and satisfaction.

Story

Brand content is woven throughout the experience to inspire and educate with a focus on Canadian storytelling and images.

Purchase

Products are curated based on e-commerce conventions with clear tools to find what is needed.

The Outcomes

The shift to a direct to consumer model in the Canadian market presented Craft with a number of challenges. Build awareness and develop a connection with a new audience, change consumer behaviour to generate online revenue, and do it all in a regional market where the brand is relatively new.

Since the launch of the site we’ve seen waves of positive results. Ranging from increased digital presence and brand awareness to year round sales growth and increased revenue. Not only did we see results that directly correlated with our work on the website, but we were also able to assist long standing retailers by increasing product knowledge, brand awareness and market presence.

As experts in the outdoor industry we knew that we had a partner that would guide us in the right direction to reach our desired consumer here in Canada.

Since the launch, we have increased sales month over month, which has alleviated gaps in our wholesale business which is typically seasonal. It also created brand awareness and engaged an audience that never existed before, one we could not reach solely through our retail channel.

Without massive marketing dollars to inject into traditional advertising, our D2C website allows us to market through email campaigns and connect with our social media networks in creating stories and linking to virtual shopping experiences.

Amber Nero

CEO, Craft Canada, A Division of New Wave Group of Companies