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Introduction
Gymshark recently launched a student discount campaign, a strategy adopted by mammoths like Amazon. This approach is not just about offering discounts—it's a strategic move to engage the increasingly health-conscious youth. By targeting the student demographic, Gymshark aims to secure a dominant position in the market early on.
Whether you're looking to boost brand loyalty or attract a youthful audience, a well-executed student discount can be a game changer for your brand. While setting up such a campaign might sound complex, it doesn't have to be. In this case study, we will explore why Gymshark chose this marketing strategy and how you can easily implement a similar campaign using the Kite app on the Shopify app store.
About Gym Shark
Gymshark is a renowned fitness apparel brand that ranks as the fifth top Shopify online store. In less than a decade, the company has achieved a valuation exceeding € 1 billion, a testament to its customer-focused approach.
To maintain its growth, Gymshark knows it must consistently innovate its marketing strategies. The student discount is one such strategy, aimed at expanding its customer base by appealing to young, fitness-minded students.
Challenges and Strategies at Gymshark
- Unlocking Future Customers: Gymshark understands that students will soon be their main customers. By connecting with them early through discounts, they hope to keep them as loyal customers in the future.
- Tapping into a New Market: Although 38% of GenZ are already working, 51% are still studying. Gymshark is reaching out to this large group of students with special discounts, exploring a market they hadn't focused on much before.
- Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Students are highly social, and as the world is moving towards becoming more health-conscious, it becomes even easier for Gymshark to promote its brand through word of mouth.
This approach significantly reduces their customer acquisition cost (CAC), as students naturally recommend the brand to friends who are increasingly interested in fitness and wellness.
- Building Brand Loyalty: Studies show that 75% of students remain loyal to brands that offer them student discounts. By offering these discounts, Gymshark is not only saving students money now but also enhancing their customer lifetime value (CLTV) by building lasting relationships.
- Value-Aligned Branding: GenZ cares a lot about health and fitness. Gymshark's discounts on fitness wear show that they share these values, making their brand even more appealing to health-conscious students.
Solution
Implementing a solution for your brand can be simpler than you might think. First, assess whether GenZ is a suitable target audience for your product. If they are, consider launching a student discount to attract this demographic and start building a loyal customer base.
You don't need complex tools to start. Similar to Gymshark, which uses Student Beans, you can implement this with Shopify's native capabilities along with a third-party app like Klaviyo for precise customer segmentation. Shopify allows you to tag customers, enabling you to offer discounts specifically to students, streamlining the process, and ensuring that your promotions are only available to the right audience.
An additional benefit of this approach is that you can run these promotions without the branding of external services like Student Beans. This way, you maintain full control over the branding and messaging of your discounts for seamless integration with your existing marketing efforts.
Implementation
- Download and Install Kite App: First, download and install the Kite app from the Shopify app store.
- Choose Customer Tagging Method: Choose how you want to tag your customers. You can manually add tags based on the information you gather during their customer journey or use a third-party app for more automation and precision. The Shopify Flow App and Klaviyo are popular choices for capturing customer data at login and creating targeted segments.
- Configure Discounts in Kite: Once you've assigned tags to your customers, open the Kite app on your Shopify store and navigate to the advanced settings. Here, you can set up tiered or volume discounts that will apply only to those customers who have a specific tag.
Results
Using tools like Ubersuggest, it's clear that the student discount is highly effective. The strategy is attracting significant attention, with over 9,000 potential customers visiting the site from the U.S. alone, all drawn by this specific discount.
This approach not only taps into a vast customer base but also fosters loyalty among them. By engaging students early, Gymshark is creating lasting relationships, ensuring that these customers remain with the brand even after their academic years. This long-term engagement strategy strengthens the brand's presence and secures its future market share.
If you want to do something similar, install the Kite app and get more customers.
If you face any problems, reach out to us via chat or book a discovery call!
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