by Tom Shackleton
One of our clients, Fusion Bags, has seen tremendous success over the past few years with huge increases in revenue and orders and have really focused on their eCommerce strategy in order to grow and expand further.
We caught up with Nicole, the Sales & Marketing Director, about the brand, their growth and what they’ve been doing in order to maintain that success.
Can you sum up your company in no more than 30 words?
Fusion design, manufacture and sell high quality musical instrument bags for musicians who want to travel comfortably with their instruments without compromising the protection of their valued instrument.
What was the initial inspiration for setting up Fusion Bags?
Fusion Bags was created by four friends who had a vision of designing and manufacturing the best gig bags in the world, to cover the needs that a travelling musician has when on tour or attending gigs and band practice.
What drives your business forward?
Our passion and vision drives us forward. When we started the company, we knew that we wanted to become a globally recognised brand in the music industry who offers a unique product that musicians love.
What’s been the most exciting moment for you, personally, since founding Fusion Bags?
The launch of the brand at Music China, an international trade show in Shanghai, has been one of the most exciting moments. We were terrified and excited at the same time, as we had no idea what to expect. To our big relief, the show turned out to be incredibly successful and we received orders from distributors from many countries around the world, who recognised our products as innovative and exciting.
What’s the biggest challenge for your business?
Our biggest challenge was in 2012, when after 3 years of impressive growth of the business our customers felt the knock-on effect of the recession and multiple distributors went out of business. We realised that this challenge would either make or break us.
The decision we took was to take back control and start selling our products directly to trade and consumers in the UK and to smaller European countries. It took us a year to come up with a strategy, to do our own UK distribution and to develop and launch a brand-new eCommerce site, to sell to the public via our website.
How important is a digital presence for Fusion Bags?
Our digital presence has been our most important marketing tool since the launch of our business in 2008. Since 2014, with the launch of our online shop, the digital presence has become even more important. The eCommerce site is now our fastest growing sales channel with the best margins.
How did you first hear about Statement?
Statement was recommended to me by our Google PPC consultant.
When you initially contacted us, what were you looking for?
When I initially contacted Statement, we were planning the re-launch of our online shop with a new look and improved functionality.
What kind of comments do people make about your website?
We get fantastic feedback for our website. The products we sell are of high quality and our websites allows us to show the many features of each bag in photos, videos and customer reviews.
What’s next for Fusion Bags?
Fusion have some exciting plans for 2017. Taking back control in the UK was our best decision yet, as it has allowed our business to flourish. We plan to further expand on the success of this part of the business.
After working with Fusion Bags initially on their online store, we have continued to work with them on ongoing conversion rate optimisation and personalised email marketing.
You can read our case study on our projects with the team here or visit their website to find out more about their products here.
