The clothing brand's Snapchat account MeUndies Gets to Sell on Snapchat, the brand has been posting links to special product pages and achieving 10% to 12% in conversion rates.
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram offer buy buttons to help brands push their product sales across their platforms. Not Snapchat. But that doesn't mean sellers aren't able to use this mobile messaging app as a guerrilla-style e-commerce stand.
Clothing brand MeUndies has been using its Snapchat account not only to showcase its merchandise, like boxers or pants, but sportswear that they have actually managed to sell.
The brand has included Special URLs in some of your Snapchat messages and it has been seen that 10% to 12% of the people who see the links end up seeing the product in their browsers and they buy.
That's good news for Snapchat, the brands and publishers hoping to set up e-commerce stores in the Discover section of the app, a plan that Snapchat member and Cosmopolitan editor Joanna Coles revealed in February.
MeUndies isn't exactly trying to set up shop on Snapchat. Instead, the brand advertises product promotions – including exclusive items that can only be had through posted Snapchat links – as another way to keep its audience interested in its branded content. The content pushes the product, and the product pushes the content.
“It has to relate to the content. So if a product is related to the story, in the end we are going to relate them both, or we will only relate it to some product launch,” he said. Dan King, Marketing Director at MeUndies. He compared Snapchat to modern TV “In a sense. “It gives us an outlet to create our own programming network.”
For example, MeUndies has run a series through its Snapchat account called “Lounge Off,” which featured two members of the brand's marketing team – Bob Wolfley, which deals with social media and influencer marketing Greg Fass, which handles partnerships and influencer marketing – reclining in their comfy sweatpants in seemingly uncomfortable places like on top of a Starbucks table or at a crosswalk.
After a few episodes, MeUndies posted a snap that included a link to a special page on their site where people could buy the pants. “People screenshot the link, and that way you can track Snapchat sales because it was a unique link,” Fass said.
In another example, MeUndies held a pumpkin decorating contest through its Snapchat account that was between Mr. Fass against actress Nathalia Ramos, with each competitor wearing the brand's clothing in a French style.
“It's like a native ad within our own content,” King said. And it may be easier to sell products through special links on Snapchat than through buy buttons on Facebook or other social networks. Those buy buttons typically require a brand to pay to use e-commerce software from technology providers like Shopify.
"This is one most advanced trading platform "It requires a larger investment from a team of developers, and it's not clear if it's worth the effort," King said.
The casual approach to trading on Snapchat means that MeUndies can pick and choose the right time to execute a sale rather than going overboard about using it to get their investment money's worth.
“We are picky about when we want to do that,” Mr. Wolfley said. “If we know a Snapchat story will be long, we might reward it with a link at the end. We don't want to overwhelm it with many links. “We want it to be about branded content and fun.”
