by John Larkin
John runs the blog here at eCommerceLift and is a verified Shopify Expert. Interested in an initial growth consultation? Click here
7 years ago
Drop Dead Clothing: An eCommerce Case Study
Standing out in the crowd is a common struggle eCommerce stores face. The problem becomes even more evident when you are advertising to young, web savvy customers who expect more than just your average online shopping experience from eCommerce stores. Drop Dead Clothing have carved itself a highly popular niche market selling its alternative wears to a young audience looking for something a little different. They challenge the norm of marketing and make an intriguing eCommerce case study.
The Brand
Established in 2005, Drop Dead is a clothing brand that has set itself out to be different from the beginning. Created by musician and designer Oli Sykes, the store aims to cater towards a young, artistic and individual audience looking for an alternative style of clothing. The store carries a range of pop culture and cult inspired clothing that Drop Dead claim is:
“inspired by internet culture, life on the road and an ever-evolving taste in music and art”.
The brand sets out to give its audience a fun, cool and idiosyncratic apparel that incorporates all aspects of youth culture. This has gained them a massive following of dedicated fans that live the brand and love the lifestyle it portrays.
Established in 2005, Drop Dead is a clothing brand that has set itself out to be different from the beginning. Created by musician and designer Oli Sykes, the store aims to cater towards a young, artistic and individual audience looking for an alternative style of clothing. The store carries a range of pop culture and cult inspired clothing that Drop Dead claim is:“inspired by internet culture, life on the road and an ever-evolving taste in music and art”.
The brand sets out to give its audience a fun, cool and idiosyncratic apparel that incorporates all aspects of youth culture. This has gained them a massive following of dedicated fans that live the brand and love the lifestyle it portrays.
The Blog
Blogging is serious business in the fashion world and Drop Dead clothing has recognised this. They have built a successful blog that delivers value for the brand and customers. The blog incorporates information about the stores new collections, art exhibitions, music events, celebrity interviews and online pop culture news stories.
The celebrity interviews are perhaps the most interesting and inviting aspect of the blog. Celebs such as musician Shrillex, artist EMA and actor Jamie Campbell Bower all are asked a number of amusing and interesting pop culture related questions such as Burrito or burger?, Top 3 films?, Pick two celebrities to be your parents... Each interviewee is young, fashionable and very relatable to the brands audience making it a clever marketing tool for Drop Dead as they are associating themselves with celebs their audience aspire to be.
Blogging is serious business in the fashion world and Drop Dead clothing has recognised this. They have built a successful blog that delivers value for the brand and customers. The blog incorporates information about the stores new collections, art exhibitions, music events, celebrity interviews and online pop culture news stories.
The celebrity interviews are perhaps the most interesting and inviting aspect of the blog. Celebs such as musician Shrillex, artist EMA and actor Jamie Campbell Bower all are asked a number of amusing and interesting pop culture related questions such as Burrito or burger?, Top 3 films?, Pick two celebrities to be your parents... Each interviewee is young, fashionable and very relatable to the brands audience making it a clever marketing tool for Drop Dead as they are associating themselves with celebs their audience aspire to be.
It’s not only Drop Dead’s own blog that the brand is using. They are also reaching out popular fashion bloggers with thousands of followers to help promote their apparel. Fashion bloggers post about events and press nights for Drop Dead while also wearing their clothing in ‘Outfit of the Day’ posts which show how they style and wear items. This adds to the brands fashionable, cool edge and reaches out to the perfect audience of fashion conscious young people.
The Social Media
Social media has become a prolific tool for so many eCommerce stores and Drop Dead clothing is no exception. They have cultivated a large following on numerous social media platforms due to their innovative, creative and engaging content that draws customers in. Drop Dead have an impressive following on Facebook with 692k likes, Twitter with 199k followers and Instagram with 197k followers. In addition they also regularly post on Tumblr, YouTube and Pinterest providing content for their audience.
Each platform is used in different ways as Instagram and Pinterest are mainly used to show off the brands merchandise while also portraying an image of what Drop Dead as a company is about. While Facebook and Twitter help the brand thrive by promoting events, competitions, blog posts and announcements about interesting events the store is involved with.
The Collections
Part of the success of Drop Dead is there unveiling of collections. Each one is individual and different from the last but yet still caters towards their audience. Each collection has its own Pinterest board and is promoted on social media and in store with events building amazing anticipation for their launches.
Part of the success of Drop Dead is there unveiling of collections. Each one is individual and different from the last but yet still caters towards their audience. Each collection has its own Pinterest board and is promoted on social media and in store with events building amazing anticipation for their launches.
One of Drop Dead’s most success and prominent launches was one that mixed the brands love of fashion with pop culture. They designed a range of apparel inspired by The Simpsons cartoon ‘The Itchy and Scratchy Show’. With a launch party giving out free goodies, online videos and posts about the collection, it developed quite a lot of buzz as numerous fans flocked online and in store to buy the collection. The brand recorded and placed a video on YouTube showing the hundreds of fans queuing to get their hands on ‘The Itchy and Scratchy Show’ merchandise in store.
The Events
Keeping up with its philosophy of being inspired by music and art, Drop Dead have become synonymous with organising and promoting events with different artists and musicians. The sponsored events often incorporate bands that are alternative and are representative of the stores audience. Customers identify the brands image with these idolized bands therefore strengthening the brand.
Keeping up with its philosophy of being inspired by music and art, Drop Dead have become synonymous with organising and promoting events with different artists and musicians. The sponsored events often incorporate bands that are alternative and are representative of the stores audience. Customers identify the brands image with these idolized bands therefore strengthening the brand. The brand also have little extras to encourage people to follow them and become fans as they hold in-store signings with bands and put backstage content including interviews and concert footage with the bands in them on YouTube.
This offers great promotion as they are accessing their audience in a subtle way. Instead of just continuously marketing merchandise to their customers, Drop Dead are bringing value to followers in a different way. Their audience is seeing a lifestyle being portrayed that is one of music loving, artsy cool which makes them want to buy into this image and be involved with this brand.
The key to Drop Dead’s success has been that they had the right target audience and have expertly catered their brands image towards them. With pop culture merchandise, cool events and generally just keeping up with the zeitgeist, its brand model has set an example that many eCommerce stores wish to emulate.
The key to Drop Dead’s success has been that they had the right target audience and have expertly catered their brands image towards them. With pop culture merchandise, cool events and generally just keeping up with the zeitgeist, its brand model has set an example that many eCommerce stores wish to emulate.
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