Client: AKIRA
services:
paid social
paid search
DOE Media Digitally Transforms AKIRA Into a National Fashion Powerhouse, driving 350% ecommerce growth
From its humble beginnings in 2002 as a single boutique in Chicago’s vibrant Bucktown neighborhood, AKIRA swiftly rose to prominence as an influential women’s fashion brand. With founders Eric Hsueh, Erikka Wang, Sarah Hughes, and Gordon Liao at the helm, AKIRA expanded to over 30 stores across 12 states, becoming synonymous with bold style and trendsetting fashion.
While AKIRA had built a strong brick-and-mortar presence, several critical challenges limited their eCommerce growth and digital advertising success:
THE CHALLENGES
While AKIRA had built a strong brick-and-mortar presence, several critical challenges limited their eCommerce growth and digital advertising success:
THE CHALLENGE
Technical Challenges
in Digital Advertising
Setbacks with Meta (Facebook & Instagram) API Issues:
- AKIRA’s Facebook accounts faced severe technical gaps, particularly with the Conversion API. The tracking of purchase values was inaccurate, which hindered their advertising performance.
- Misconfigured tracking led to missed opportunities in capturing high Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and profitable acquisition.
Inefficient Account Structure:
- AKIRA’s existing Facebook account structure lacked segmentation, testing capabilities, and used soon-to-be deprecated lifetime budgets, limiting their ability to scale effectively.
Limited Prospecting & Retargeting Segmentation:
- With insufficient segmentation between prospecting (new customers) and retargeting (previous visitors), AKIRA was not effectively identifying new customers or optimizing their marketing spend.
Unclear Product Performance Data:
- Mixed targeting approaches (combining interests with Lookalike audiences) blurred insights and prevented clear identification of successful ad creative, audiences, and products—limiting their ability to scale effectively.
BRIDGING THE
ECOMMERCE GAP
- AKIRA was successful in-store but found scaling their online business challenging without a strategic, data-driven approach. Their eCommerce channel needed to mature significantly to match the success of their brick-and-mortar business.
DOE Media implemented a holistic, strategic, and data-driven digital transformation designed to elevate AKIRA’s online presence and boost their profitability.
THE SOLUTIONS
Strategic Account Restructuring & Optimization
- Conversion API Fix: Repaired AKIRA’s Conversion API and Pixel tracking issues, resulting in more accurate data, stronger audiences, and immediate improvement in ad effectiveness.
- Data-Driven Segmentation: Redesigned ad account structures for precise targeting. Separated lookalike audiences, interests, and engagement groups into specific ad groups and campaigns, significantly improving performance insights and scalability.
- Campaign Budget Optimization: Transitioned AKIRA's advertising budget to Facebook’s new Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) strategy, ensuring better budget control and more efficient results.
Enhanced Creative
& Testing Strategies
- Creative Testing Framework: Established structured creative testing, isolating ads based on products, copy, and visuals. This allowed for clear insights into performance and informed merchandising decisions, driving impressive sales velocity.
- Product-Specific Campaigns: Created individual campaigns for distinct product categories (like shoes), ensuring more targeted and profitable ad placements, enabling AKIRA to make informed inventory decisions.
Sophisticated Retargeting
& DPA Implementation
- Advanced Retargeting Funnels: Segmented retargeting audiences by specific actions and timeframes (e.g., product views, cart additions), allowing for targeted ads based on user behavior.
- Cleaning Up The Funnel: Established clear separation between prospecting, mid-funnel engagement, and bottom-funnel retargeting.
- Dynamic Product Ads (DPA): Implemented DPAs to serve hyper-targeted, relevant ads to users based on their onsite interactions, substantially increasing conversion rates.
the results
DOE Media’s meticulous strategy and execution digitally transformed AKIRA, driving extraordinary growth and operational expansion:
Key Performance
Metrics
Overall Revenue
Growth:
200%
Increase since starting in the first three years working together.
Ecommerce
Growth:
eCommerce-specific revenue skyrocketed by
200%
transforming AKIRA’s online presence into a primary sales driver.
Revenue
Milestones:
Successfully drove over 9 figures in profitable online revenues and achieved over
500K+
online purchases.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS):
Achieved an
800%
increase in ROAS, delivering exceptional efficiency while scaling.
expansion & infrastructure
transformation
300K SQ FT Fulfillment Center:
Facilitated AKIRA’s transition from a 30,000 sq ft (2,787.09 m²) fulfillment center to a state-of-the-art 300,000 sq ft (0.03 km²) eCommerce fulfillment facility in less than three years, supporting expansive growth and nationwide demand.
Platform & Audience Insights
Platform Shift:
rising dramatically from 25.8% of sales in 2019 to 72.6%.
Audience Evolution:
Website Traffic Growth:
brand prestige
DOE Media’s strategies turned AKIRA into one of the leading fast-fashion retailers in the United States, rapidly placing them on the fast track to achieving Unicorn status.
WHAT'S NEXT?
DOE Media continues to empower AKIRA’s growth and innovation as an integrated strategic partner:
- Creative Strategy Consulting: Providing data-driven insights into customer preferences to inform and elevate advertising creative.
- Channel Expansion: Successfully helping AKIRA achieve TikTok verification, expanding their reach through viral content with tens of millions of views, ensuring continued customer acquisition growth.
- Lifecycle Marketing & Cohort Analysis: Deepening AKIRA’s understanding of customer segments and lifetime value, enhancing customer retention and loyalty strategies.
- Advanced Analytics & Optimization: Guiding AKIRA’s blended paid search and social customer acquisition costs (CAC) strategies, ensuring sustained profitability.
AKIRA’s Digital
Ascension
True happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.
AKIRA Team
Ready to Write Your Own Growth Story?
Let DOE Media’s expert team transform your brand into the next powerhouse. Schedule your free marketing audit today and discover how we can propel your business to unmatched heights of success.