AWI campaign with Japanese online giant drives wool sales
Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) subsidiary, The Woolmark Company, has undertaken another successful marketing campaign with the second largest luxury fashion e-commerce platform in Japan, Rakuten Fashion, to promote a massive selection of two million wool rich products for consumers to buy.
AWI Regional Manager Japan & Korea, Samuel Cockedey, says the two-month campaign put Merino wool at the front of digitally savvy shoppers’ minds – all with the aim to make Merino wool the most coveted apparel fibre for Japanese consumers during the peak selling winter season.
“This was the largest campaign of this type we have ever conducted in the Japanese market. Its objective was twofold: education and action. Firstly, to increase Japanese consumers’ awareness of Merino wool’s eco-credentials and benefits, and secondly, to drive large-scale consumer purchases of Merino wool apparel,” Mr. Cockedey said.
“The campaign performed extremely well, in line with our objectives. It showcased wool rich products from more than 750 brands and yielded a significant A$24 million in sales of products containing an estimated total of 50,000 kg of wool, which will benefit Australian woolgrowers.”
Rakuten Fashion is a huge premium fashion e-commerce platform with estimated sales in 2022 of A$1 billion, and a 40% year-on-year growth during the past few years. Its parent company is the largest e-commerce platform in Japan.
The digital and social marketing campaign directed consumers to a ‘wool hub’ on the Rakuten Fashion website which showcased the enormous range of shoppable wool-rich products for men, women and children (including coats, jumpers, cardigans, bottoms and accessories). The wool hub also included editorial content highlighting the benefits of Australian Merino wool including its quality and eco-credentials.
The campaign involved imagery featuring famous Japanese influencers, actress and model Ami Komuro and actor Jin Suzuki, which significantly boosted the drive in sales.
“We are pleased to have collaborated again with The Woolmark Company to highlight Merino wool's many benefits, and to showcase a uniquely wide array of premium wool products to our fashion-savvy large customer base,” said Jin Iijima, Vice General Manager, Fashion Business Department, Marketplace Business, Commerce & Marketing Company, Rakuten Group, Inc.
“We look forward to growing the awareness and sales of wool products through this continued partnership, with Rakuten Fashion the go-to luxury and designer fashion e-commerce platform in Japan, and Merino wool the luxury fibre of choice.”
The joint marketing campaign on the Rakuten Fashion e-commerce website featured famous Japanese personalities. Approximately $24 million of wool products were sold during the campaign.
