Shoenvious
STARTUP RETAIL INCUBATOR
Shoenvious
Year of establishment: 2018
Names of co-founders: Sau & Andrew Noddings
About the brand: Shoenvious is a direct-to-consumer footwear brand that enables women to customise their shoes online using a proprietary online shoe customiser. Each detail of the shoe can be customised from 100+ material combinations, resulting in millions of design possibilities. Each pair is handmade-to-order and shipped worldwide.
Commercial success: Shoenvious is now shipping to more than 80 countries, with the US and Europe being its biggest markets. The brand’s custom shoe offering has become a favourite amongst brides, and Shoenvious is in the process of expanding partnerships with selected bridal boutiques in Europe and the GCC. In addition, Shoenvious also sees considerable growth in its ‘design-your-shoe’ gift cards especially during the gifting seasons.
Phased business transformation: As COVID-19 has changed the traditional shopping habits of consumers, Shoenvious has recorded 30% more traffic on its site, registering higher sign-ups and conversion rates. The brand claims to be attracting customers who would not typically shop for shoes online. Shoenvious has also seen positive results coming from its digital marketing investments, and is capitalising on this opportunity to highlight the brand’s differentiated offerings. Shoenvious is, in fact, in the middle of rolling out improvements to its online shoe customiser so shoes and materials can be showcased on the website in a more realistic manner, thereby enhancing the customer experience around designing shoes on the platform.
Major hurdles crossed: As COVID-19 hit, Shoenvious experienced minor hiccups with its supply chain. “We work with a lot of small-scale suppliers, who have had to pause operations or just cease to operate altogether as they’re hit financially. Fortunately, we’ve got a great production team that has been able to get the right components to produce our shoes to the same quality. So, whilst we have had to source supplies at a slightly higher cost and had to pay for more expensive shipping costs, the ability to deliver to our customers to quality and without delay is invaluable.”