Building a Fashion Accessories Marketplace from London: Kiyan Foroughi, CEO of Boticca (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: What kind of ramp did you see based on that?

Kiyan Foroughi: I think the most interesting stats I can give you are actually how well we did in the Christmas of 2014 versus Christmas of 2013. We increased our conversion rates by 90%. It was beyond my wildest dreams to increase it by such a big percentage. I had predicted perhaps 25%. We really improved our marketing efficiency. We are actually making 30% more on revenue by spending 40% less than what we were spending previously. We also fine-tuned our marketing to make it a lot more profitable and efficient on top of the website and the product.

Sramana Mitra: What do you attribute the 90% increase in conversion to?

Kiyan Foroughi: So many different things. One is the website itself. When we redesigned it, we looked at all the data. We look at all the friction points and designed it by removing all of those friction points. That’s one thing. The second thing is smarter marketing. As for the other paid channel beyond email and lead acquisition that previously were not converting very well, we managed to find a way to make it work. One channel in particular that is working really well for us is product listing ad from Google. Previously, none of the Google tools had really worked for us, but product listing ads do. They have a nice conversion rate. We also did a bunch of stuff like video re-marketing and ads in the London subway. We started doing things that we hadn’t done previously.

The last thing is product selection. We have a much tighter and cohesive product range than what we had in the past couple of years. In the previous years, I think we let on too many products on our website. We went to do a reduction to make sure that items that have never sold are not featured anymore and that the products that we’re putting forward are the ones that people are looking for. Our sourcing strategy has changed as well. With our new Fashion and Brand Director coming on board, product selection just got much better. She’s a buyer by background and has over 23 years of experience. I think those three things combined made for the increase in conversion rate.

Sramana Mitra: What did the 2014 revenue run rate come to?

Kiyan Foroughi: We’re now in that $5 million to $10 million range. We’ll probably go above the $10 million range by next Christmas.

Sramana Mitra: Is there anything else you want to share in the story?

Kiyan Foroughi: Not really. One of the big lessons learned for me was sometimes, don’t be afraid to slow down on growth to improve your experience and product and only accelerate when you’re on solid ground and foundation. It was a hard decision to make. We decided to upgrade the team, focus on improving the website, and then start accelerating. Obviously, when you’re talking to the board, that’s the type of things they don’t want to hear. They just want to hear growth, growth, growth. I was fortunate that I had investors who were quite pragmatic. The lesson learned here is don’t be afraid to take a couple of steps back to make one giant leap forward.

Sramana Mitra: Well done. It was wonderful talking to you. Good luck with your journey forward.

This segment is part 7 in the series : Building a Fashion Accessories Marketplace from London: Kiyan Foroughi, CEO of Boticca
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