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From Dropshipping to a $20m/year Brand - Icon Amsterdam.

Black Friday Strategy, Optimised Product Page & Promotional Tactics

Hey team!

Thanks for your patience with this edition, and welcome to the new subscribers 🙏 👋

Today’s case study is about Icon Amsterdam.

Icon Amsterdam’s rise is a textbook success story of turning a dropshipping operation into a multimillion-dollar brand.

Starting in 2013, Icon Amsterdam was a small-scale, dropshipping business focused on men’s streetwear.

In this newsletter, I’ll go through the influential tactics and strategy that's helped them scale up aggressively, covering:

  • BlackFriday/Cyber Monday strategy

  • Skeleton of a high-converting product page

  • Promotional and pricing tactics

Let’s jump in 🤙

TACTICAL CAMPAIGN
Black Friday/ Cyber Monday Strategy

Icon’s preparation is dialled in.

Last Black Friday/ Cyber Monday period they recorded a whopping $750, 000 in a single day with this approach.

With 2024 BFCM around the corner, this strategy is worth using and making it fit your brand.

Exclusive VIP Access

Early access sales create a sense of exclusivity, allowing Icon Amsterdam to capture early revenue and avoid the race to the bottom that often happens during Black Friday itself.

The execution is simple.

They lock their entire website and generate a password, which is only shared with their VIP customers who will likely make purchases quickly.

Social Ads

Their approach of capturing emails early through social ads (Meta, Snapchat and TikTok) allowed them to build an email list that can be re-targeted during the sale with personalized offers, exclusive discounts, and reminders.

Rather than driving to a pre-existing promo, they focus on capturing as many emails and numbers as they can.

This helps maximize customer conversion during Black Friday by ensuring that those who expressed interest early on are reminded when the sale begins.

Plus, it’s a great way to keep acquisition costs down during this period where CPMs are incredibly high and you can use the hype to capture emails that you can nurture post the sale period.

SMS & Email

You need to be prepared well in advance to get the most out of this.

This is what a typical strategy skeleton looks like for most DTC brands and Icon have adopted a similar roadmap:

  • 1-month out: build email and SMS lists using exclusive discounts and early access offers

  • 2 weeks out: use email for detailed offers and SMS for quick flash sales, keeping messaging consistent​

  • BFCM week: increase the frequency with sale reminders, limited-time offers, and cart recovery

Mixing urgency and personalization to stay top of mind drives revenue like there’s no tomorrow during the biggest shopping event of the year.

CONVERSION RATE
High Converting Product Detail Page

Icon’s detail pages create an engaging shopping experience.

First, high-quality visuals draw customers in, allowing them to appreciate the products from various angles.

Next, detailed descriptions provide essential information, addressing customer needs and concerns.

Pricing strategies highlight discounts, creating a sense of urgency and value.

Social proof, like customer reviews and testimonials, builds trust and credibility.

Prominent call-to-action buttons encourage quick purchases while cross-selling options suggest related products, driving the overall cart value.

Together, these all come to minimize friction to purchase, improving confidence and driving purchases.

PROMOTIONAL TACTICS
Five Pricing and Promotional Tactics That Work

Discount Offers
They attract new customers with offers like 10% off for signing up for their newsletter. This strategy not only increases email subscriptions but also incentivizes first-time purchases​

Seasonal Sales
Icon runs various seasonal promotions, such as a Fall Sale where customers can access significant markdowns. This creates urgency and encourages shoppers to take advantage of limited-time offers. Products need to be aligned with the season for this to work.

Bundle Deals 
Bundle deals incentivize customers to purchase more items at once, raising the AOV. By promoting products in bundles at a perceived discount, Icon Amsterdam encourages customers to buy multiple items, which can lead to a more substantial overall transaction. For example, they offer a three-pack of T-shirts for $59.99, down from $119.85, promoting bulk purchases.

Free Shipping
They provide free shipping on orders exceeding $150, a common tactic aimed at increasing average order value while minimizing cart abandonment.

Flexible Payment Options
Icon partners with payment services like Afterpay, allowing customers to split their payments into instalments, making higher-priced items more accessible.

FINAL WORDS
Bringing It Home

Icon has strong foundations when it comes to selling online. They focus on exclusive, high-quality men's clothing that keeps customers coming back.

Fast shipping is a game-changer, especially with U.S. orders usually arriving in just a couple of days.

The brand excels at staying up-to-date with digital trends and conversion rate optimisation. You get a feel for this by going through their website.

They take smart risks, like quickly launching new collections and offers relevant to the season.

And, on top of everything their performance and influencer marketing are helping them stand out and drive conversions in a crowded fashion niche.

That’s all for today! Hope you got some learnings out of this.

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See you next time - Dev✌️

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