We have all read news about major Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands achieving exponential growth in a relatively small amount of time, leveraging from new approaches that directly connect the brand with the customer, creating real engagement and connection between both. We have seen this happening in multiple industries: mattresses, eyewear, clothing and, now, also shapewear.
Direct-to-consumer brand Shapermint, which has made itself famous in the shapewear industry for its challenging approach to the conversation women are having about their bodies, has experienced rapid growth since conception. And all of this without external investment.
Shapermint, an online shapewear store that sells curated styles from top-rated brands, has grown from 0 to more than 2 million customers in the first 15 months at profits. Their weapons of choice? Strong acquisition and brand building strategies, which continue to propel their growth and promise to bring the newcomer into the 3 million customer mark by the end of 2019.
But specifically, their success lies in their ability to strategically tap into social media advertising platforms, which have become the key to their scalability and the main reason behind Shapermint's immense growth in a relatively small amount of time.
The result?
More than 3 billion ad impressions, 20+ million unique visitors (only in the US) and 48% of their customers becoming first-time shapewear users.
This is no small feat. Data actually shows the shapewear market was in decline prior to Shapermint's inception in June 2018. And after the marketplace managed to infuse the industry with 15% growth in 2018, multiple new brands are jumping onto the shaping bandwagon. Even Kim Kardashian has gone in for a bite, launching her new Skims brand in September 2019. These events are taking the shapewear industry to bright new heights that will definitely change what the market landscape looks like once the dust settles down.
The aim is to help women "wear shapewear loud and proud," empowering women to no longer hide and feel ashamed of shaping undergarments. Through their content and advertising, they show women with real bodies wearing shapewear - without any body-editing. They keep it real, with a clear and direct approach to messaging.
Powering a movement
What they're doing is working, with a 2+million community of women buying into the brand and their range of "everyday smoothing shaper essentials". Shapermint's rallying cry for "women to support women" in the movement towards body positivity, is being heard and responded to strongly across social media and beyond.
By understanding women, their behaviors and decision-making, without any doubt, they are having a huge impact on the shapewear industry - but, most importantly, on women's lives.