How the partnership between VTEX and Insider led to the digital growth of the HOPE Group

An eCommerce and growth management platform integration helped The HOPE Group, a Brazilian leader in lingerie, grow online

With over 50 years of experience in retail and operating HOPE, HOPE Resort, and Bonjour Lingerie, Grupo HOPE leads the Brazilian underwear market. The women’s fashion brand, which has had personalities such as Gisele Bündchen as protagonists of iconic campaigns, has innovation in its DNA. It was the first company to merchandising on Brazilian television in 1985 and was a forerunner of digital retail in the country, joining the eCommerce universe in 2006.

The Hope Group’s creative side was essential for the company’s strong performance during the pandemic: the closure of their distribution center in Maranguape, Ceará, also the closure of physical stores in major urban centers, and the retraction of logistics networks were some of the challenges the company faced last year. However, HOPE’s professional talent and digital strategy allowed them to transform difficulties into growth opportunities. Digitalization further improved with an enhanced sales application and the redirection of stock in physical stores, which started to function as local distribution centers for eCommerce.

Implementation and challenges

The most significant difference behind the decision to migrate the eCommerce platform to VTEX was the possibility of natively serving the omnichannel strategy of the HOPE Group. 

With the closure of almost all of the Group’s 200+ physical stores during the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for an eCommerce solution that would enable the integration of the distribution center and physical stores’ inventories became evident. Furthermore, this solution would allow for dispatch and removal of local inventory (ship-from-store and pick-up-in-store) from the stores themselves. In order to avoid stockouts and ensure inventory turnover in closed stores, the company sought an efficient UX and a competitive service level agreement.

VTEX’s extensive experience with omnichannel solutions, such as the Soma Group operation, a successful case in the national market, provided the authority and confidence to establish the partnership and start the implementation, which lasted approximately three months.

HOPE also liked how VTEX offered a variety of omnichannel features, including live shopping (a live sales strategy involving social media streams) as well as customizable tools derived from VTEX’s IO technology. With live streaming, the HOPE Group will expand its presence on social networks and strategically use sales teams in physical stores to generate online sales while offering a real-time shopping experience.

Also, while implementing the VTEX platform, the HOPE Group kicked off with Insider in October 2020. With the optimization of sales potential, end-to-end analysis of the digital funnel of HOPE and HOPE Resort was made from page traffic, considering metrics like bounce and exit rates, device types, and access frequency to conversion. From this analysis, Insider identified critical areas of improvement. 

The brands’ main pains were conversion and retention, user engagement on pages, the add-to-cart rate, and revenue. Through its machine learning technology and artificial intelligence, Insider was able to map the behavior of these users in the funnel from start to end, focusing on the performance and main goals of the HOPE Group.

HOPE’s strategy also highlighted a Hello Bar. This customized bar can be segmented by user profile, enabling a customized message that encourages users to return to the cart when leaving a product and returning to the Home Page. 

It’s also possible to generate segmented messages, as was done for the “Fortnight of the Bra” campaign. The hello bar was visible at the checkout for the promotional products. HOPE informed the user about the discount or cashback. Another solution with positive ROI is Pre-Select Size, which identifies users who have already made purchases on the site and brings an automatic selection of the size of the previously purchased product. Together, these tools have enabled automation for campaigns that previously required manual work and in-house development.

Web push solutions play an essential role in reaching users who have visited product pages or added items to their cart and left the page without engaging or purchasing. Mass web push campaigns to promote launches and discounts were also created for the entire database and represented a significant amount in conversions. The WhatsApp solution is also on the roadmap to further foster growing results and create an innovative experience.

Initial results and next steps

The Hope Group expands the omnichannel model to its physical stores and its presence in digital retail. The results obtained are positive, surpassing previous years’ expectations and even the expectations outlined for a year of instability in the national scenario.

A few months after integrating Insider and VTEX, it was possible to see a higher ROI and increased sales performance. As a result, both companies have jointly developed a strategic partnership, cooperating for the digital development and continuous improvement of the integration between their SaaS platforms.

As a strategy for the upcoming months, the brand intends to focus on two verticals: social networks and omnichannel.

The first will highlight expanding the brand’s reach on social networks, enhancing its live shopping strategy, and capitalizing on the Group’s past experiences, including Anitta (a famous singer in Latin America) and salespeople in physical stores. The second will prioritize the engagement and adaptation of the franchisee network to the omnichannel project, allowing for a further reduction in delivery time and costs. In addition, Insider cooperates with geolocation-based solutions, offering product recommendations according to climate and region.

Together, Grupo HOPE, VTEX, and Insider have redefined the limits of eCommerce in Brazil. Even though the scenario is challenging, the innovative vision of the partnership allows the customer experience to be increasingly personalized, elevating this Group whose legacy is part of the tradition of Brazilian retail.