If ever there was an example of how brands can successfully expand into new markets, Blauer is certainly it.

Founded in 1936, Blauer’s heritage is in supplying high-performance protective uniform apparel for the US public safety market. However, a decision to export their offering to Europe 15 years ago meant that the core collection would have to grow and develop in order to appeal to the masses.
Check out the IMRG interview here.

So how exactly did Blauer, a company that’s steeped in history and synonymous with products that were niche in nature, not only make the leap into a new market as well as into the digital commerce space, but pay homage to their brand history in product design, marketing and communications, and everything in between?   

In the latest in IMRG’s interview series with successful retailers, Giuseppe D’Amore, CEO of FGF Industry discusses how Blauer takes a multichannel approach to their eCommerce strategy, how they utilise online marketplaces like Zalando and Amazon, and how they effectively continue to tell their brand story on social media.
Since launching their first online store in 2012 using the Kooomo platform, Blauer’s digital sales have soared, increasing by over 30%, and seeing a 10X return on investment for digital marketing.

Speaking about the project of bringing Blauer online, Ciaran Bollard, CEO at Kooomo says that maintaining Blauer’s motto of ‘Uncompromising Performance’ was priority number one:

“Working with Blauer, a company with such a deep-rooted history, it’s so important to preserve brand values, and align online and offline strategies when making the move into the digital commerce space. We integrated everything from logistics, to CRM, to web design, taking a holistic approach to eCommerce, and future-proofing Blauers online offering. The fact that Blauer’s core target audience spans across various European countries, their online store needed to incorporate multiple languages, currencies, and tax rates, which is something that’s built directly into the Kooomo platform. Now, as Blauer is launching in new markets, scaling and utilising online marketplaces is simply going to be about expanding what they are already doing, and they are doing it well’.

Read the full case study on how Blauer’s eCommerce journey, including how the brand cracked the German market through SEO and Google AdWords here.