Vovia Client Feature – Lammle’s Western Wear

It’s time to highlight another one of our valued client partners here at Vovia; the proudly family-owned, Calgary-based and operated retailer, Lammle’s Western Wear. If you’re not familiar with Lammle’s, they are Canada’s leading western wear lifestyle retailer, outfitting Canadians with a focus on community and local roots since 1983. Whether you’re gearing up for Stampede or leaning into your western lifestyle and fashion sense, Lammle’s is your go-to for Wrangler, Ariat and any of your other favourite western brands.

We’re lucky to call Lammle’s a partner, and we have a great appreciation for the collaborative, trusting and fun partnership we’ve developed over the years. Above all, our relationship has allowed us to drive strong performance and continuous improvements together.

Lammle’s first came to Vovia in late 2020, looking for support on eCommerce campaigns to increase online sales and attract new customers. This, of course, was an important time to be on top of your eCommerce game on account of COVID shutting down retail stores and causing a collective flock to online shopping. After an initial audit and campaign recommendation, we were off to the races. From then onward, we have evolved from simple executions to annual media plans with growth in channel mix, geographic areas of focus, and performance goals. Join me as we take a trip down memory lane to recap where we started with Lammle’s, where we’ve been since then, and where we’re headed in the future. 

2021

In 2021, after executing a brief test campaign at the end of 2020, we began to collaborate with Lammle’s on their digital media campaigns full-time. Early on, our focus was to drive sales from low-funnel high-intent audiences by leveraging channels like paid search and shopping. Over the course of 2021, the online business results significantly increased compared to the prior year. This eCommerce growth was exceptional given that it was following the already heavily enhanced eCommerce environment in 2020 that followed the shutdowns related to COVID-19 and the move away from in-store shopping. 

It was a successful year, and as a team, we were excited to continue to improve heading into 2022, a year that was largely projected to see declines in eCommerce sales as shoppers returned to ‘normal’ brick-and-mortar habits. Up against this challenge, we conducted our first full annual media plan with Lammle’s for 2022. 

2022

In 2022, we built upon what we had learned in 2020 and 2021 to continue to grow while shoppers returned to the store. We acknowledged that there were new opportunities to grow, both geographically and in terms of our marketing tactics. To do this, we introduced a number of new elements to our campaigns, including the following: 

Create Brand Awareness in New Markets

Before you can grow new markets and sell to western wear enthusiasts across the country, those individuals first have to be aware of the Lammle’s brand. While low-funnel campaigns like PPC are fantastic drivers of sales and deliver a strong return on ad spend (ROAS), they live at the lower end of the marketing funnel, where the consumer is likely well aware of Lammle’s. Knowing this, we tested the waters of paid social ads with the hopes of increasing awareness and eventually acquiring new customers. After campaigns had some time to ramp up, they provided plenty of new visibility for the Lammle’s brand and some incremental sales. In addition, we saw sales from organic social media lift while paid campaigns were in-market, indicating that the paid campaigns created heightened awareness and allowed users to come back and purchase on their own time. 

Leverage Google Performance Max Campaigns

In 2022, Google Smart Shopping ads were merged into the new Performance Max campaign type. This meant that we needed to expand our digital product mix with less product-focused branded display ads, YouTube videos, and search ads to complement the shopping efforts. While shopping ads continued to drive the bulk of transactions and performance, new Performance Max ads helped to diversify our voice in the online advertising space while also allowing for a targeted approach to important promotional seasons.

Performance Max Campaigns leverage AI and machine learning to allow us to optimize our campaigns to a targeted ROAS. This allows us to ensure we are bidding on the most efficient terms possible while at the same time focusing on new customer acquisition.

Focus on Promotions – Capitalize on High Demand Periods

Based on learnings from 2021, we tailored tactics to holiday sale periods such as Black Friday/Cyber Monday and Boxing Day to capitalize on increased demand in peak timeframes.

With these changes, other optimizations throughout the year, and constant collaboration with the Lammle’s team, we achieved considerable YoY growth in online revenue for 2022. Similar to 2021, this was achieved in the face of customers returning to the store, but 2022 saw this challenge to an even greater degree as the pandemic and concerns associated with in-store shopping subsided. 

With similar eCommerce projections at play for 2023, we will once again look to evolve our marketing efforts as a team so that the Lammle’s online business can continue to grow. We can’t wait to see what lies ahead in 2023, and beyond! 

Questions about eCommerce campaigns? Feel free to drop us a line! Be sure to check out Lammle’s Western Wear at their website, or on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.