- D2C Digest
- Posts
- 🎯 Changing the narrative around your brand, Alex from Krakatoa Underwear | D2C Stories
🎯 Changing the narrative around your brand, Alex from Krakatoa Underwear | D2C Stories
Weekly D2C Stories from successful brands, this time featuring Krakatoa Underwear
Hey there, great people of the D2C community who are building fantastic things! This is your host Berkay writing.
This Friday on D2C Stories:
🎯 Changing the narrative around your brand: Alex from Krakatoa Underwear
🤓 Tweets of the week
🏷️ Discounts on leading Shopify tools
📚 Free resources on inventory management
Quick reminder: We offer great discounts on fantastic Shopify tools, like Fabrikatör Inventory Assistant, Growth Suite, and ReturnX. But there are many others on the list. Just reach out to us for discounts!
🩳 Changing the narrative around your brand: Alex from Krakatoa Underwear
Alright alright alright! Here is the D2C success stories part!
In the 12th episode we did with successful D2C entrepreneurs, we had an entertaining and insightful with Alex, founder of US-based men’s underwear brand, Krakatoa.
Alex’s entrepreneurship journey actually started in the 1980s in Brazil, where he had to smuggle a computer to pursue his passion for computer graphics during a time when computers were illegal in the country.
And after many years spent in the gaming industry working on big projects like Call of Duty, he made a significant career shift to create his personal D2C brand even though he had little experience in the area.
You can listen to the episode on Spotify, Google, or Apple Podcast!
And here are some highlights from our chat:
🚀 The market was underserved. In Alex’s mind, the lack of comfortable underwear options for men had been apparent for some time. And the market was clearly lacking in this area, leaving much room for improvement! So he decided to do something about it!
👕 A Fresh Take on Underwear Alex has a distinctive approach to men's underwear. With Krakatoa, his emphasis is on enhancing everyday comfort. So he pays special attention to the stitching, seams, and fit – aspects often overlooked in the underwear industry.
His ultimate goal is to provide comfortable essentials that boost confidence and make people's daily lives better.
📣 Changing the entire narrative. Like everyone else, Alex initially started working with a marketing agency and focused on promoting his goods on social media. But it didn’t really work well…
Then he shifted from traditional marketing to a more profound approach to solving problems and enhancing the overall customer experience, highlighting how the product could positively impact customers' lives. So he changed the entire narrative around his products to be more customer-focused. And it worked!
👥 Customer-Centric Approach. Alex listened to customer feedback, fine-tuning their products based on insights gathered over five years of engagement with customers.
Customer reviews are very visible on the homepage
📞 He genuinely enjoys connecting with his customers! Alex believes in the power of direct communication and loves talking to customers via phone and email to offer a personalized, top-notch customer experience. He even enjoys giving out free samples and encourages people to try on the underwear to get their honest feedback.
🤝 Personalized Approach. Krakatoa's shift away from relying on Amazon to focus on their own website led to more personalized interactions with customers, who appreciated the personal touch.
🎯 Focused Product Line. Krakatoa maintains a focused approach to creating exceptional products, including underwear, socks, and undershirts, without expanding into unrelated areas.
 | 📦 Inventory Challenges Managing inventory and predicting sales remains a challenge, particularly when dealing with bundles and fluctuating customer preferences. 💻 8-9% click-through rate The brand's advertising performance is strong, with a Facebook click-through rate of 8-9%, and an emphasis on building trust and value rather than relying on constant discounts. |
🧐 Dealing with Critics. Alex advises entrepreneurs to ignore naysayers but listen to constructive criticism. Passion is important, but success lies in staying focused on impacting people with your product.
Finally, here is the rest of Krakatoa’s toolstack:
✉️ Email automation Klaviyo
👨💻 Customer Service Gorgias
📈 Traffic analysis FormToro
📦 Bundles Simple Bundle & Kits
💬 Product reviews Stamped.io
🆇 TWEETS OF THE WEEK
Useful prompts!
🚀 Not sure who needs this right now, but here's the 9 go-to ChatGPT prompts I use on the daily to write psychology-based ad copy:
— Sarah 🦕 (@SarahLevinger)
6:24 PM • Oct 31, 2023
Wdyt?
We all have way too much data and way too little process...
— Taylor Holiday (@TaylorHoliday)
3:27 PM • Nov 1, 2023
Good breakdown
All attribution is flawed.
That’s why it even exists…
So should you throw it all out?
No, but you should understand the bias of your chosen methodologies.
Here's how I see it.👇
In-Platform Data (IPD)
IPD (I might have made this up) is data provided by the ad platform.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
— Jeremiah Prummer (@JeremiahPrummer)
9:19 PM • Nov 1, 2023
SOCIAL MEDIA
Did you enjoy our newsletter? Follow us on social media for more content on best practices, tips, and insights!
📚 FREE RESOURCES
And here are the free resources on all things inventory! Enjoy them and let us know what you think.
🏷️ DISCOUNTS ON LEADING APPS
If you’re a subscriber to this newsletter, well, we have more to offer. Just contact us over email to ask for a list of discounted tools, ranging from CX to inventory optimization.