by Fatema Mulla

Selling high quality Yorkshire and Harris Tweed clothing as part of a family business, our client Bucktrout Tailoring have used the power of multi channel marketing and an ongoing site improvement project to appeal to both their British and exciting new international customer base.

Selling high quality Yorkshire and Harris Tweed clothing as part of a family business, our client Bucktrout Tailoring have used the power of multi channel marketing and an ongoing site improvement project to appeal to both their British and exciting new international customer base.

We recently spoke to creative director Katie Bucktrout to talk about the brand, their story and what their journey has been like so far.

What is Bucktrout Tailoring, and can you sum up what you do in 10 words?

Modern tailoring that respects the past, using British heritage fabrics.

What are the key successes you've seen over the past year?

Bucktrout Shopify

Having had great success with our wholesale side of the business by providing independent retailers with our Heritage ranges, we have recently seen a steady uptake in our direct customer business through our Shopify site, reaching new markets in Europe, the US and Canada.

The brand has cleverly taken advantage of international demand for British styling, and have worked hard to not only appeal to British customers but have also made their products attractive and available to those outside of Britain too.

What's been the biggest challenge so far for the brand?

Like all eCommerce brands, particularly those in the highly competitive fashion industry, Bucktrout Tailoring have faced their fair share of challenges. We asked Katie what their biggest challenge has been so far:

Our biggest challenge so far has been adapting our wholesale business to include and facilitate the direct customer business.

Where we have previously focused on a ‘make to order’ production model (where you are making collections 6/8 months in advance), the success of the website has meant we have to be more reactionary and our production less seasonal.

Also, reaching a new international customer base comes with the inevitable shipping and fulfilment challenges, which is something we are continuing to refine this year.

A change in consumer expectancy - with customers preferring to receive products quicker than ever - has been a key focus for Bucktrout.

Bucktrout’s success has also lead to a rise in international orders, prompting Bucktrout to refine their shipping and fulfillment processes to make it easier for their international customers to purchase.

What are the ambitions and plans for the future?

Bucktrout Brand

We have quite a few plans and ambitions we’d like to see play out in the upcoming months. We’re going to continue to build on the interest of ‘classic British style’ that is obviously still surging both here and abroad, and are also hoping to further optimise the true potential of our online business.

We’re also quite interested in being able to partner with like minded brands to encourage more social engagement and cross over business, and hope this will give us enough exposure to eventually becoming a ‘first stop’ for quality tailoring for stylish customers.

How are you using marketing to grow and drive awareness?

Bucktrout Markerting

We’re currently using direct email marketing to focus on existing customers, and hoping this encourages them to return to our site. This includes features on new products, information about new ranges and promotions.

We are also utilising micro influencers to encourage social engagement, and get ‘eyes on the brand’. We select smaller bloggers and Instagram users (with followings in the thousands rather than the millions) who have a passion for our ethos and gift them our product to wear/feature and review.

With the Statement team’s help we are testing social advertising with a focus on gathering information on our customers habits, hobbies and lifestyle.

Taking part in local events, such as the Leeds International Fashion Space runway show, helps us to engage with our customers in the real world and creates additional content to promote on social channels.

Finally - how did you hear about Statement?

As our brand site is hosted by Shopify, we were invited to one of Statement’s Shopify Meetups in Leeds. We found these were a great way of learning more about what is possible through the partner apps and hearing other inspiring brand stories from guest speakers!

Statement’s obvious passion and interest in helping brands grow made them an obvious partner choice for us when we made the decision to invest more in our site.

What’s next for Bucktrout Tailoring?

Bucktrout Tailoring are continuing to work hard on a number of different campaigns and strategies to bring more holistic success to their brand and business.

They’re currently focusing on a conversion rate optimisation project to refine their site and make browsing and purchasing of products a more seamless and enjoyable experience for their customers. This will then lead to an overall increase in sales, allowing the brand to grow and flourish in the British fashion market!

Visit the Bucktrout Tailoring site here and make sure to follow them across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too.

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