Swimwear retailer makes online shopping a better fit
A website that helps both individual customers and businesses get their bikini orders sized right the first time has propelled Kulani Kinis to rapid growth.
Swimwear can be a deceptively intimate product category. While the garments are designed and built to be on maximum public display, they are also inherently personal pieces. Consumers want to feel connected to them.
As a result of this, customers want to make sure that when they purchase a piece, they get it right the first time.
Sydney-based Kulani Kinis understands this better than most. The swimwear brand was formed in 2014 when husband-and-wife duo Dani Atkins and Alex Babich realised that buying bikinis online was not as easy as it should be, and decided they could do better.
Now selling products around the world, both online and through major distributors, Kulani Kinis is approaching sales revenue of over $50 million for the FY24 calendar year – a 70 per cent increase compared with the previous year.
In addition to quality products, Babich says the work the couple has done to revolutionise the online shopping experience for swimwear has played a huge role in their success – and leaning on Shopify has helped unlock the business’ full potential.
Plagued by inaccurate orders
In the first few years of the business’ operations, Babich and Atkins were often overwhelmed by inaccurate online orders; for example, customers purchasing items in the wrong size or accidentally purchasing duplicates.
This led to an influx of customers getting in touch to solve their issues, or would prompt the founders to reach out to the customer themselves if they spotted something unusual.
For a resource and time-strapped start-up, this was a difficult practice to keep under control. Babich estimates the duo responded to thousands of customer care questions in the first few years, and that it led to a slowdown in purchasing behaviour.
Over 60 per cent of our revenue is from global audiences, who aren’t always awake when we’re awake.Alexander Babich,
Managing Director & Founder, Kulani Kinis
“We’re lucky that many people were willing to wait for us to respond before they purchased, but we realised that we should solve these problems before they became an issue, rather than react to them.”
Tackling these customer issues also took precious time away from focusing on growing revenue streams, such as expanding the company’s wholesale component beyond a handful of big retailers.
Adding the power to personalise
The team decided to develop a bespoke tool on its website that allowed customers to input their own measurements and size preferences when placing an order.
This would not only allow for greater product personalisation, as pieces would be far more likely to fit properly on the first purchase with this information, but would also cut down on returns, exchanges, and overall volume of customer queries.
Thankfully, such a bespoke option is possible on Shopify’s website-management tool.
“Shopify allows a high level of customisation for businesses, particularly around its customer and product metafields, and it really allows brands anywhere to elevate their customer experience however they want.”
Neither Babich nor Atkins had any coding experience, but were able to realise their vision by hiring just one in-house developer to help with development and implementation of the sizing tool into the Kulani Kinis website hosted on Shopify.
Being able to focus on working on the business allowed the pair to launch a successful B2B website last year that is more focused on the needs of that particular audience. Rather than buying a product in single size, for example, B2B customers can purchase products in larger quantities, and in multiple sizes, at once.
The sizing tool and more
Babich said the tool has now been hard-coded into the business’ Shopify theme. Customers can choose from a set of sizes manually (ranging from extra small to 3x large) or, if they need more help, can click a ‘size guide’ button on each individual product page.
This will open a conversational chat pop-up that will talk customers through the process of figuring out which size and fit is best for them, and enabling the option to add that particular product directly to their cart from the chat.
The brand also provides a full size guide for each individual product, for those who want a bit more information ahead of purchase.
“When everything works and is easy, it’s great for the customer and for the brand,” Babich said. “This helps to reduce returns and exchanges, which helps with shipping costs, and generally makes each transaction more profitable for us.”
Doubled in size
300%increase in B2B wholesale website transaction revenue
3x growth in B2B wholesale customers
Kulani Kinis’ customers have responded “really well” to the changes, Babich said, and the new system has saved a lot of time for him and Atkins.
In just one year, Kulani Kinis’ B2B operations are now making up about 10 per cent of the business’ revenue, and it’s growing rapidly. Additionally, with the implementation of B2B on Shopify Plus, Kulani Kinis has shown a 300 per cent increase in B2B wholesale website transaction revenue and 3x growth in B2B wholesale customers.
And, for the brand’s DTC customers, further changes are coming to remove even more friction from the online shopping experience. For example, once a customer declares that they are purchasing a product in a particular size, other products on the site will be set to that size for that customer, to eliminate accidental purchases.
The fact that all of this is possible in Shopify, Babich said, has played a huge role in Kulani Kinis’ success. The business has doubled in size in the past year, and has moved into a new warehouse that is triple the size of its initial location.
“When businesses don’t make it hard for their customers and ensure processes are clear and simple, they will be rewarded for that.”
The right tool for the right idea
Ultimately, being able to customise the Kulani Kinis site to tell its particular story, while also adding in its own bespoke customer-facing options and creating a dedicated expansion store targeting wholesale customers, has helped define Kulani Kinis’ success and set it apart from a sometimes crowded fashion vertical.
Starting from a two-person operation running from a dining room table just 10 years ago, and growing to a 60-person, multimillion-dollar business doesn’t happen without a vision, knowledge and a bit of help. Shopify has served as the foundation for Kulani Kinis’ growth over the past decade, and Babich has no plans for leaving the ecosystem.
“It all comes down to understanding what you’re good at – I’m good at user experience, but I’m not a tech guy, I’m not a developer. And so we really want to lean into that and work with our partners,” Babich said.
Shopify has allowed Kulani Kinis to have complete control over its website, which has enabled its massive growth.Alexandar Babich,
Managing Director & Founder, Kulani Kinis
