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In This Episode
Join us as we take a deep dive into Boohoo’s digital marketing strategy and discover the tactics that helped transform the online fast fashion brand into a billion-pound retail powerhouse.
Our Head Ninja Tim explores Boohoo’s marketing strategy using the same framework we use to assess our clients’ marketing performance. This time around, we’re focusing on five key areas.
- The user experience (UX) on Boohoo’s mobile website
- Their social media strategy
- Their influencer marketing strategy
- Their search strategy, both organic and paid
- YouTube strategy
We also touch on the future of Boohoo and how the company can take things to another level. As always, the goal of these deep-dives is to provide actionable insights that you can apply to your own marketing campaigns.
About Boohoo
Boohoo’s meteoric rise is all the more remarkable given that the company, founded in 2006, began as a simple market stall in Manchester with three employees. In less than 15 years, Boohoo has grown to become a billion-pound eCommerce fashion brand, posting revenues of £1.235 billion in 2020 — up 44% year-over-year — despite the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.
Like many fast-fashion brands, Boohoo’s primary audience comprises 16–30-year-olds. And what’s clear when you study Boohoo is that they’re focused on a price model, selling affordable clothing and apparel as low as under £10. A quick look at their site shows that Boohoo’s marketing message revolves around three simple factors: pricing, discount and scarcity.
Whether this model is sustainable is anyone’s guess. But earlier this year, Boohoo made two blockbuster acquisitions: Debenhams (which collapsed due to losses caused by the pandemic) and the Arcadia Group brands of Burton, Wallis and Dorothy Perkins. So clearly, something is working.
Boohoo’s Digital Marketing Strategy
Boohoo’s digital marketing strategy revolves around an intuitive online shopping experience that gets many things right when it comes to UX, but still has room for improvement. The eCommerce brand also has a strong social media presence, outpacing competitor ASOS when it comes to audience engagement.
YouTube holds tremendous potential for Boohoo, with customers uploading videos of their “Boohoo hauls,” which attract hundreds of thousands of views.
Ironically, Boohoo itself only has 11,000 subscribers — very low for a company that gets 2.7 million brand searches per month on Google.
Key Takeaways
As expected from a huge eCommerce brand, Boohoo’s digital marketing strategy rests on a strong foundation. However, there are still things they can work on, such as the navigation on their mobile site and their lack of visibility on search.
Watch or listen to the video or podcast to learn more about Boohoo’s digital marketing strategy and tell us what you think.
Timestamps
00:19 — Introduction
01:02 — Boohoo’s history
02:44 — Boohoo mobile site review
12:56 — Boohoo social media strategy review
15:09 — Boohoo’s 3 types of influencers
16:26 — Boohoo YouTube strategy review
17:56 — Boohoo search strategy review
22:25 — Boohoo paid search strategy review
24:57 — Key takeaways
