800 % increase in e-commerce revenue

Nähwelt Flach GmbH, Europe's largest sewing center, is an expert in sewing, embroidery, and patchwork. Additionally, the company offers an extensive range of services, from consultation and repairs to trade-ins and sewing classes, along with regular events. The family-owned business now in its third generation expanded its operations in April 2022 with a new location in Kleinostheim. Sunlab has been supporting Nähwelt Flach in various areas of online marketing, including paid social, SEO, and SEA since 2012.

SEA

Since the start of our collaboration, the SEA segment has grown to become the most effective channel in the online marketing mix. 

What began with limited options for text and keyword campaigns evolved into data-based and automated methods including our in-house solutions that promote Nähwelt's current product portfolio. 

Our approach prioritizes profitability, enabling us to generate maximum revenue at reasonable costs.

Since January 2012, campaign performance has been continuously and sustainably improved:

With over 400 million ad impressions and approximately 4.5 million clicks, Sunlab successfully directed qualified traffic to Nähwelt Flach's website. About 15 % of the achieved sales each year come from new customers whom we've converted into loyal customers or repeat buyers through Google Ads.

Even in the recent past, despite increased advertising pressure from competitors like Amazon, Sunlab managed to achieve success for Nähwelt Flach. During the fiercely competitive fourth quarter of 2021, sales increased by around 10 %, with a 13 % growth in revenue while maintaining the desired Return on Ad Spend.

The customer's directive - and consequently our focus - was clearly on selling sewing machines. During the mentioned period, over 70 % more items were sold compared to 2020, despite click prices more than doubling due to increased competition.

Since the beginning of our collaboration, Nähwelt Flach GmbH has increased its e-commerce revenue by more than eight times. As a result, the company had to significantly expand its shipping and storage areas to meet the increased demand.

Paid Social

Integration of Pinterest campaigns

Since 2020, Nähwelt Flach's focus has been on expanding its presence on the DIY platform Pinterest.

With 444 million monthly active users, the app serves as a visual search engine for inspiration in fashion, beauty, home, and gardening. Additionally, the majority of users are female, aligning with Nähwelt Flach's target audience. Furthermore, Pinterest's CPM is notably lower compared to Facebook.

Through the use of Pinterest campaigns, the cross-platform CPM was reduced by over 54 %, while website clicks increased by 138 %. Through the use of tracking pixels, conversion data can be monitored, allowing for campaign optimization based on user behavior.

A key requirement within the Pinterest strategy is prioritizing visually appealing and high-quality content that stands out. As such, we focused on creating premium content in close collaboration with our graphic designers to provide the potential audience with inspirational ideas related to sewing.

Utilization of automation solutions

To support the active Facebook campaigns, we integrated new advertisements using our in-house ad automation tool in late 2021. These ads are data-driven and are based on the popularity of products frequently viewed in the online shop. This allows the Facebook algorithm to react to usage trends of potential Nähwelt Flach customers in real-time, transforming them into advertisements. Additionally, Sunlab's experts can customize the layout in consultation with Nähwelt Flach GmbH's responsible parties.

Compared to traditional product-based Facebook ads, this approach provides us with more control over which products are showcased and how the advertisements can be tailored to the target audience. For the website visitor audience, ads run through the automation tool outperformed the traditional product ads, resulting in more than doubling the overall ROAS for this segment.

SEO

SEO projects require a long-term perspective. Over the past years, we have undertaken various measures for Nähwelt Flach, including:

• Website relaunch (Oxid Webshop - 2020) 

• Development of a content concept: 

  • Structuring existing content and creating new content 

  • Creation of DIY guides 

• Targeted optimization of low-hanging fruits - content that can yield maximum success with minimal effort 

• Optimization of category pages through A/B testing 

Due to these SEO optimizations, organic revenue has increased by over 15 % since the 2020 relaunch. The website’s visibility has also increased by a significant 50 %.

In the near future, we have defined numerous shared objectives, such as increasing the number of store visits. The newly opened retail store in Kleinostheim near Aschaffenburg provides ample space for a wide range of products and new potential customers.

SEA

In 2023, we continue to pursue a specific course for Nähwelt, focusing on sewing machines and acquiring new customers.

In addition to expanding automation and machine learning approaches, we are testing all suitable Google betas and new products for Nähwelt Flach.

With the new location, featuring an enlarged retail space, aspects like in-store visits have regained prominence. We support this through locally targeted drive-to-store campaigns.

Video and live shopping will be central to sales in 2023. We are also assisting Nähwelt Flach with Google Ads campaigns to fully tap into these new opportunities.

Paid Social

Several measures and activities are also on the agenda for the Paid Social sector. This includes testing additional platforms and expanding the use of our in-house automation technology to enhance the efficiency and success of campaigns. Moreover, new products and Nähwelt Flach's own brand, Semplix, will also be positioned across various social media platforms.

Lastly, Instagram plays a significant role in our Paid Social strategy. We aim to further expand Nähwelt Flach's Instagram community and, through influencer collaborations, authentically promote their products to the target audience with engaging content.

SEO

In the SEO realm, we will continue to increase revenue and expand various in-house brands through different approaches and measures including website optimization and content creation.

• Additional A/B tests to further increase (organic) revenue

• Expansion of content in all categories and subcategories

• Creation of rich content on product pages

• Optimization of internal link structure to enhance user accessibility to content

• Expansion of naehmaschine.de (an initiative by Nähwelt Flach providing DIY enthusiasts with free sewing instructions) and other satellite sites like overlock.de

• Redesign of the Flach-owned brand semplix.com