Lola + The Boys Sees 66% Growth in International Sales with Managed Markets

When Irina Ovrutsky founded Lola + The Boys in 2016, her mission was to create a line of premium children's clothing that reflected the vividness of their imaginations. Combining her experience as a model with her love of design, she set out to redefine how the world sees kids' fashion with an expanding line of high-quality, visually stunning clothing. 

Along the way, she partnered with Chicago marketing experts, and Shopify partners, Freedom Media Group to build a brand that has gained the attention of celebrities and many others around the world. "Over our multi-year partnership, we've helped Lola + The Boys expand from selling $20,000 or $30,000 per month to over $2 million per month," says James Karis, Freedom Media Group co-founder, referring to what his firm calls 'The Freedom Effect.'

But despite their domestic success, Lola + The Boys found selling to international customers to be anything but child's play. Shipping fees, duties, and other delivery issues were costing the company valuable customer service hours, and they were losing orders.

At the suggestion of Freedom Media, Lola + The Boys turned to Shopify to create a robust and nearly instant international ecommerce presence. With Managed Markets from Shopify, the company saw the following results:

• 66% growth in international sales over 9 months since adopting
• 18% improvement in their international conversion rate
• 16 hours per month reduction in customer service time devoted to international orders

The Challenge: Frustrated international customers, abandoned orders, and wasted time

Thanks to Freedom Media, Lola + The Boys grew their US sales exponentially over the first four years of their partnership. As a result, customers worldwide took notice and began messaging the company, wanting to see their children clad in the company’s colorful designs.

However, the brand wasn't equipped to handle the delicate logistics required to ship products to multiple countries, and their customer service team began working extra to handle related customer issues. "They were spending hours of additional labor per week to service international customers, which at times, amounted to a massive headache," James says.

Complicating issues further, international customers began to abandon their shopping carts. In other words, motivated moms and dads worldwide were walking away due to surprises with additional shipping costs, duties, and taxes. Consequently, the conversion rate of international orders was painfully low. "Overseas customers were finding them, but they weren't converting into sales," James says.

Watchful of their client's obstacles and opportunities, Freedom Media studied the issue. "Overall, at the time, the company's international business was a small percentage of sales,” James shares. “But the time they spent servicing those orders was concerning.”

The Solution: Shopify streamlines international ordering and wins back customers

Lola + The Boys recognized the importance of meeting the product demand they were seeing overseas, and so did James. "We knew international sales could someday grow Lola’s volume by 10 times,” he says. “We saw Managed Markets as the tool that would help us achieve that.”

The appeal of streamlining their current international sales headaches with Market Pro was undeniably appealing. With easy localization and management of shipping, duties, and compliance all in a single source, James and the Freedom Media team could solve Lola + The Boys’ problems in one switch.

So, in a fix that only took days, they signed Lola + The Boys up for Managed Markets from Shopify and thus, opened them up to the world. "The switch was incredibly smooth, and we started seeing international orders improve almost instantly," James says. "And it's the easiest tool to use," he adds.

The Results: New fashions to ignite imaginations worldwide

With the introduction of Managed Markets, Lola + The Boys began seeing international site visitors become international buyers. Customers no longer abandoned carts because they knew their costs and shipping times upfront. "In ecommerce, conversion is one of the most important metrics," James says. "Overall, we saw international conversion rates rise by 18% after moving to Managed Markets.” At the same time, the company's customer service team was freed up to help other customers and build relationships.

The strong results that Lola + The Boys have seen since implementing Managed Markets have solidified the solution as a key part of their international growth strategy. "Since moving to Managed Markets, international sales as a share of Lola’s total revenue has quadrupled," James says. In short, international business has turned from a liability into an asset for the company, and they can welcome orders from almost anywhere in the world.

Looking to the future, James says Lola + The Boys still have plenty of room to grow in the US, but their borders are open. He says "Lola's biggest growth opportunity is still domestic, but today we can't afford to ignore international and we'll continue to look at how we can grow it with the help of Shopify."