E’sorae Luxury — a Lagos-based online retailer that produces good quality bedsheets and bedding basics — has been growing rapidly since its launch in 2014 as an E-commerce store. Its revenue has quadrupled from when they ran physical stores at the malls. This year, Ewaen Sorae, CEO of E’sorae Luxury, projected a continued growth in company’s revenue because of local production and affordable prices.
Such rapid growth is driven by attainable high-quality products and supported by a lean yet effective marketing approach where word-of-mouth referrals are the major tools, complemented by billboard ads, email and telemarketing as well as Facebook and Instagram.
As a startup, E’sorae Luxury did not have much to spend in the way of marketing. “At the very beginning, we relied heavily on word-of-mouth referrals,” said Ewaen. Then we started growing our social presence and email marketing.”
Marketing operations are managed in house by the digital marketing team. The team started with Facebook and Instagram, where a fraction of the marketing is paid and the rest organic.
E’sorae Luxury uses audience customization to target prospects on both mobile and desktop based on their demographics and location. A couple of months ago, the company started placing promoted posts on Instagram where it has a couple of thousand followers. “Although in my opinion Instagram is not as good as Facebook in terms of targeting, it’s a great platform to tell brand story and actually engage with people,” said Ewaen.
Meanwhile, E’sorae Luxury has a robust email marketing program that targets consumers based on where they found the brand and what products they purchased. It also shares exclusive content and promotions via email that one wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
There’s a growing number of online startups like E’sorae Luxury that offer the right price for luxury quality through a direct-to-consumer model. Whether those companies will sink or swim remains to be seen, but they have more opportunities to scale than traditional luxury businesses, said Ewaen.
“The startup nature of these brands allow for a greater intimacy between the creator and the consumer,” Ewaen explained. “The intimacy allows for expansion but also a deeper understanding of exactly what the consumer wants and expects. It allows for more agility.”, that is why Ewaen decided to float a new brand called www.bedsheetsexpress.com to cater to the middle class and low end of the market so as not to diffuse the E’Sorae Luxury brand.
Ewaen Sorae is the founder and senior principal designer of E’Sorae Luxury, the largest online bedding and homeware store in Nigeria. Ewaen is a proactive leader and planner with expertise in marketing, he is an accounting graduate from University of Benin and also hold a Masters Degree in marketing management from the University of Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom.
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