by Tom Shackleton
Through social media, digital advertising and community engagement, our client Dexters Workwear has managed to get their Shopify eCommerce store up and running for their innovative, interchangeable workwear brand in a market packed with big brands like Snickers and Dickies.
After starting their workwear business at the beginning of 2017, we spoke with Dexters Workwear founder, Lawrence Shepherd, about growing an eCommerce business, building a brand and what’s next...
Why did you start Dexters Workwear?
“We’d been developing workwear for over a decade, but we were pretty fed up with a ‘one size fits all’ approach from a large amount of the brands on the market.
We started Dexters to make workwear for trade professionals that they could customise themselves, clipping on and off different task and trade specific pockets for each job.”
“After being inspired by how willingly people customise what’s on their iPhone, along with the modular molle body armor system used by the police and military, we decided to create customisable, modular workwear_._
Our workwear is truly interchangeable and modular, so one size fits all is a thing of the past”
What's been the biggest challenge so far?
“Although we had plenty of experience designing and developing workwear, we started out with no brand, no visibility, no customer base and a market full of huge companies like Snickers and Dickies.
The biggest challenge has been building our brand reputation up from nothing, but whilst we know it’s going to take longer, we know that if we get the brand right, we’ve got a much better chance of succeeding.”
It’s great to see just how much Dexters value their brand. For an eCommerce startup, building a strong brand is a vital differentiator, especially when the market is already as competitive as the workwear sector is.
What are your ambitions and plans for the future?
“We’re really excited for what’s next with Dexters right now. We want to be able to compete with the biggest brands in workwear, and we’ve got a few really exciting things lined up for this year including launching new trades, a partnership with trade community and app Expert Trades, and we’re looking into working with national retailers to expand the reach of Dexters too.
You’ll have to wait and see, but 2018 looks like it could be a big year for Dexters.”
We can’t wait to see how Dexters keeps developing and growing this year. After establishing their brand and Shopify store in year one, Dexters are looking to take that next step forward and compete with their more established competitors.
How are you using marketing to grow?
“From the very start, digital and Shopify has been at the core of the Dexters business. We’ve used digital marketing to develop and build up our brand, spread awareness of our unique product and cultivate a community of passionate tradespeople.
We’re using social media, personalised email marketing, digital advertising and content to grow Dexters. We wanted to focus on communicating a unique, engaging brand voice through our marketing channels, so this is something we’ve weaved through everything we’ve done to engage with customers.
As well as our online efforts, we’ve also been working with trade publications and influencers to spread awareness, and attending trade shows to talk with pros face to face.”
Dexters have really made the most of the digital channels available to them to market their new eCommerce business. Their approach just underlines how important it is for a start-up to make use of multiple channels, both online and offline. Dexters have used digital and physical channels to establish their business across social, email, content and more.
Any top tips for future start-ups?
“To put it simply, don’t just build a business, build a brand.
We put a lot of work into building our brand and working with the community. Communicating with customers should be a two way thing, so we take product ideas from our customers and work with them to develop the pockets they want to see. That’s also a big part of why we’ve partnered with Expert Trades.”
Finally - how did you hear about Statement?
“We’d worked with Statement on a previous project, so we knew they were the guys to help us get our eCommerce business off the ground.
Statement recommended Shopify to us as an eCommerce platform, and it was clear that right from the start Shopify would be easy to use and help us get the brand up and running quickly with a fantastic storefront.
Working with Shopify and Statement has made launching a brand much easier than it would otherwise have been, cutting out a lot of the management time and complexity for us.”
Revolutionising Workwear
With their innovative new product, strong brand image and growing community of passionate customers, Dexters is truly revolutionising workwear.
Their story just goes to show that with Shopify, a clear marketing strategy and a lot of hard work, it’s possible for a start-up eCommerce store to carve out a niche in a competitive market.
Interested in finding out how Statement can help your ambitious eCommerce start-up with a Shopify or Shopify Plus store and launch marketing? Feel free to get in touch with our team and we’d be happy to help.
