The Challenge
Babolat transformed the consumer shopping experience from traditional to a robust omnichannel landscape increasing direct sales and sales of its retail partners.
Prior to launching Quivers, Babolat’s customers could view product catalogs online, but faced challenges with finding and purchasing available inventory in the United States and Europe.
Global buying groups, including coaches and athletes in the U.S., struggled to purchase the full catalog online and resorted to ordering by mail, calling, or emailing purchase forms. Customer support for coaches and athletes in the U.S. was negatively affected since Babolat’s sports marketing team spent countless hours each day verifying inventory and processing order forms. Babolat also had no way of reporting on consumer demand for their merchandise.
Aside from the issues stemming from their coach and athlete and consumer groups, Babolat needed to find a way to effectively sell online to the public in the U.S. and Europe, and do so without upsetting their retail network.
Highlights
20% year-over-year increase in coach and athlete sales revenue in the U.S.
——–––——— +———–––——
Eliminated purchase forms for coach and athlete orders
——–––——— +———–––——
Enabled visibility for product purchasing online and in the U.S.
——–––——— +———–––——
Sold products internationally in multiple currencies and price points
About Babolat
Babolat, founded in 1875 in Lyon, France, is considered the oldest company to specialize in racket sports from tennis to badminton and in fact, invented racket strings. Babolat has built its reputation by offering products at the forefront of technology and by supplying equipment to generations of champions who have won the most prestigious competitions. Today, Babolat products are found in more than 100 countries, 20,000 sporting goods stores, and 20,000 partner clubs.
The Solution
To streamline the buying experience for coaches and athletes, Babolat deployed a private Quivers marketplace to eliminate purchase forms and show accurate inventory available for purchase.
With Quivers’ robust discount engine deployed to Babolat’s various online marketplaces, coaches and athletes could now view inventory and order items at exclusive discount levels controlled by Babolat. The transition created time for Babolat’s sports marketing team to refocus on pre-sales and post-sales activities.
As a next step to create a premium consumer experience for all shoppers, Babolat embedded a public Quivers marketplace directly into their branded website. This enabled customers to purchase on Babolat’s website and allowed the brand to control the buying experience. In doing so, Babolat was able to route all online orders to key retailers to share orders and share insight into consumer demand for underbought product categories.
With the ability to deploy a private Quivers marketplace environment, Babolat capitalized on connecting with new partner groups in Europe. For the first time, Babolat was able to launch a single selling platform in Europe and in the United States. Utilizing Quivers, Babolat now has the ability to set-up an exclusive buying experience for specific member groups to purchase items at a discounted rate. In doing so, Babolat was able to target specific audiences in multiple currencies from a centralized product catalog.
Results
Utilizing Quivers, Babolat was able to optimize the consumer experience for both private and public marketplaces across multiple currencies while creating unique pricing for specific buying groups in multiple currencies.
By including retailers in the fulfillment of online orders, Babolat was able to eliminate channel conflict to comfortably sell online and share valuable sales data with its retail network to help them carry the most relevant and fastest-selling product. In doing so, sales for athlete and team marketplaces increased by 20% year-over-year.
Quivers enabled Babolat to sell effectively to targeted audiences globally by connecting buying groups with products seamlessly and enhancing retailer relationships with online order fulfillment. The Quivers platform also freed the Babolat team from a tedious and time-consuming purchasing process.
To learn more about what Quivers can do for your brand, fill out the form below and we will reach out to you so we can address your specific needs.
