How We Enabled Shoes for Crews To Dominate Online and Double Revenue

Shoes For Crews Europe Ltd (SFCE) is the market leader in the manufacture and distribution of non-slip shoes. They sell into resellers as well as direct to market, both B2B and B2C (via eCommerce).

Their primary markets are the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and the Netherlands. They're part of the wider Shoes For Crews brand which was established in the US 36 years ago.

Challenge 1: Multiple Sector Focus

As one of the leading producers of slip-resistant footwear in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR’s), Foodservice, Hospitality and Industrial sectors, SFCE has a wide product range. Therefore, the need to reach a wide-ranging customer base is crucial.

They produce slip-resistant footwear for everyone from part-time waiters and waitresses to professional maître d's, from bartenders to highly-professional head chefs and everyone in between. That’s just the hospitality industry.

Challenge 2: Multiple Country Focus

Further complicating things is the need to do this across all of Europe. This adds complexities to the marketing of messages across different languages and cultures.

A barman in a pub in Crewe, England, probably doesn’t share too many cultural reference points with a barman on the Côte d'Azur.

But they do have some things in common. Finding these mutual pain points and challenges and making them part of a cohesive inbound strategy was what SFCE needed HubSpot and Avidly to help with.

Challenge 3: No Foundations

Prior to the engagement, SFCE had no inbound marketing strategy, no effective digital marketing channels and no system to manage them. They were starting from scratch in a competitive market with no foundations for success.

The solution to the challenges faced by SFCE was a multi-channel, multi-language, inbound marketing strategy and implementation underpinned by HubSpot. We knew doing everything at once wouldn’t be focused enough for success so we took a staged approach.

With SFCE based in Ireland, it made sense to expand our reach in the English-speaking market, first of all. We began with a UK and Ireland blog in the English language and got to work targeting their biggest impact market: Food Service and Hospitality.

Since then we have moved into three other languages, and new sectors and added more digital marketing channels.

With a campaign every 90 days, a lot of inbound-water has passed under the bridge.

This is pretty typical of the approach we’ve taken to SFCE’s content, over the years. It’s textbook inbound marketing. Find out what your persona struggles with and help them accordingly

For an agency to keep a client for over six years and counting must mean that we’ve been doing something right. And, if we may say so ourselves, we’re pretty proud of what we’ve done while working with the team over at SFCE. Especially as the growth continues apace.

Revenue

At the start of our relationship in 2011, SFCE had annual revenue of €7.3m, this grew to €10.8m in 2014 and they’re closing 2018 on €17.5m. That means revenue for the business has grown 140% whilst working together, alongside the expansion into several new territories.

Most excitingly for SFCE, because of the margins, B2C e-commerce sales have grown within this. From €402k in 2011 to €631k in 2014, we’ve closed 2018 at €1.1m in eCommerce revenue. That’s the growth of 174% in online sales whilst working together.

Market Dominance

Content Marketing

If you ever needed a case study for the benefits of producing helpful, inbound content, Shoes For Crews Europe’s blog has gone up (we started from scratch) to 1.2 million visitors annually, just two years later. And it’s still growing.

Impact on the Team

The end result is eCommerce sales growing close to 200% and each of the company’s key markets has grown by a minimum of 100%. But there are intangible benefits too. As a standout, our proactive approach to pitching ideas and direction is what makes their lives easier.