Featured Client: Irv's Luggage Warehouse

eMergent Marketing’s results based model that combines usability and eMarketing expertise plays a significant role in retailer’s aggressive online growth.

Cleveland, Ohio (February 2006) Through a series of ROI-driven online marketing and conversion strategies, eMergent Marketing of Cleveland, Ohio helped Irv’s Luggage Warehouse (Irvs.com), a leading luggage retailer based in Chicago, Illinois, significantly increase online sales this past holiday season.

Faced with an online retail environment of cut throat pricing and sizable competition, eMergent Marketing deployed a unique approach using paid search marketing, shopping comparison sites and A/B split testing that combined best practices for eMarketing, usability and conversion. The holistic approach included strict return on investment guidelines to help Irvs.com stake a significant claim in the online holiday shopping marketplace.

Renee Silverman, Director of Marketing for Irv’s, was thrilled with the performance of her eMarketing campaigns for the 05 holiday season.

“eMergent Marketing started out with a small budget and watched ROI targets closely…once we saw the returns we were getting, we continued to increase the investments, and the profits followed. Anywhere someone searched online for luggage or the Irv’s brand, eMergent Marketing made sure we were there ready to meet their need. They didn’t just drive traffic to our site; they helped develop a strategy to increase conversion to ensure results would follow…”

Aggressive paid search marketing established the Irv’s brand name amongst big-pocket competitors like eBags. Leveraging their expertise in paid search and usability, eMergent Marketing implemented campaign tactics that garnered the attention of holiday shoppers. Real-time analytical tools were combined with a hands-on management style to enable rapid response to seasonal trends and ensure increased return on investments and ongoing success.

Because of the fierce price competition in the online luggage space, many consumers use shopping comparison engines to find the best pricing on products. The Director of Marketing for Irvs.com, Renee Silverman, knew that comparison engines would play an important role in a successful holiday season. She tapped eMergent Marketing to manage Irvs.com’s comprehensive shopping engine feeds to promote products across multiple engines. eMergent Marketing developed an approach to increase visibility across all engines without risky peak season bid-wars by using an advanced strategy that optimized rankings within on-site search results. Creative strategies like this extended Irv.com’s budget while maximizing profits and ROI goals.

Driving traffic to the site is only the first step to increasing sales; converting visitors to customers is of equal importance. Through A/B split testing, eMergent Marketing was able to test ad copy and landing page strategies to determine what worked best in driving sales. Implementation of conversion and usability tactics during testing increased conversion by 50% resulting in increased revenue and an improved customer experience.

A holistic approach to online marketing, taking into account not only the way you get people to a site, but what they do once they get there, drove unprecedented results that Irv’s Luggage Warehouse plans to continue to build on throughout the coming year.

Learn more:

To find out more about this and other client success stories, please contact us or call 216-245-0490. To learn more about Irv's Luggage, visit them on the Web at www.irvs.com.