Redefining the retail fashion world for almost a century, Hugo Boss is a name that needs no introduction. This German-born luxury fashion brand started its journey focusing on men’s apparel. But later, it diversified its product range introducing tastefully-designed clothing for women and children. As of March 2023, Hugo Boss operates 1,316 stores worldwide.

Apart from the multiple aspects (such as superior quality, ethically sourced materials and participation in social events and campaigns) that make Hugo Boss stand out from the crowd, its marketing strategy has often garnered attention and interest for its unique approach. In this article, we look at how the company infused technology into its marketing strategies and opened newer ways of customer retention.

Hugo Boss – The Forward-Looking Brand

In order to drive growth and boost sales, Hugo Boss’ marketing strategy involves innovation. It focuses on price, luxury and the ideals the brand stands for. Amidst a vast number of competitors, the brand is able to influence its customer base and carve out an identity of its own. Thanks to its innovative marketing mix approach, the company has been able to reap the benefits with positive influences on its product, advertising, distribution and pricing.

• Claim 5
  In 2021, the Hugo Boss group launched “Claim 5” - an innovative growth strategy that revitalized and elevated the brand. Lead in Digital was one of the five pillars of this newfound strategy. This included a strong affinity for the brand to digitize its business activities and physical showrooms completely. The company came up with the idea of AI-enabled pricing capabilities and trend detection to improve customer experience and better digital product development.
• The e-Commerce Revolution
  With the ushering in of the pandemic, shopping moved online as people were confined within their homes. The possibility of marketing automation opened up more opportunities for the company to welcome digitization and continue to offer impeccable customer experience.
  
  Efforts continued in every way to make the e-commerce expansion of the brand possible. The online store hugoboss.com reached millions of fashion aficionados, churning up an impressive double-digit growth for the company between 2020-2023.
  

  The company made an executive decision in 2022 to split the brand into two separate identities - Hugo and Boss - where Hugo was mainly created to grab the attention of Gen Z, which is a more digitally-dependent audience. With the launching of the twin social media campaigns titled #BeYourOwnBoss and #HowDoYouHugo in 2022, the brand personified the term ‘Boss’. It reached out to its target audience who wanted to experience something bold and different.
• A New Way to Buy
  Hugo Boss made the most out of the Instagram shopping feature, promoting their product range and being a pioneer in “social selling.” With customers just required to tap to shop for their products, the brand provided a virtual shopping window with a hassle-free buying experience.
  
  Implementing technology in its product, marketing, advertising and supply chain management - Hugo Boss looks forward to achieving its 2025 financial ambition of earning revenue of EUR 4 billion with a spiraling 16% growth of CAGR, compared to the pre-COVID statistics in 2019 and determining 2020 as the base year. Revolutionizing the luxury fashion industry and uplifting the shopping experience, Hugo Boss is all set to drive innovation and disrupt the sector with its new, innovative and ever-increasing product range and services.
  
  Trusted by leaders, CMOs and CIOs worldwide, the Springwood marketing automation service has also benefited hundreds of clients in engineering growth and formulated a foolproof marketing plan which helped them stand out in the crowd of the ever-growing business world.
• Advanced Analytics
  Hugo Boss also increased investments to strengthen their online presence and digital marketing channels. The company decided to expand its social media networks and the effectiveness of its digital marketing campaigns. Bringing in the power of technology, Hugo Boss welcomed improved and advanced analytics systems that evaluated the marketing efforts and provided insightful data, influencing the later campaigns that the brand came up with.
• Stock Management
  To promote an excellent purchasing experience and create a strong supply chain visibility, Hugo Boss collaborated with Nedap, one of the pioneers in the RFID industry. This partnership resulted in the creation of Nedap’s iD Cloud Store App which allowed regular stock management, efficient service and seamless replenishment suggestions. Combining the creativity of the fashion industry with the scientific approach of the technological world, this partnership efficiently tackled the most challenging problems related to stock visibility and inventory data.
• Hugo Boss x Adobe
  Inspired to create even more polished designs, Hugo Boss experimented with the looks and appearance of its product range by joining hands with Adobe and forming a material library. Under the supervision of Cristina Caviglia, this library digitizes fabric textures and prepares them to be used for 3D models.

Final Thoughts

Initiating a welcome change in the fashion industry, Hugo Boss invested in immersive 3D designs both for its physical and digital worlds. To become a tech-driven fashion brand, the company devised and employed innovative tools for marketing automation, providing a more wholesome purchasing experience for its buyers. From setting up virtual fitting rooms to acknowledging NFTs - the company explored the potential of a tech-enabled fashion apparel brand, improving production and distribution, and staying true to its commitment towards sustainability.

In the future, the company might even try experimenting with weaving patterns and colors. Reinventing e-commerce and proposing a brilliant strategy for customer retention, the company proposed a virtual try-on system with personalized mannequins created following customers’ chosen dimensions.

If you would also like to strengthen your marketing efforts and experiment with new growth strategies, contact Springwood today. Discuss your ideas and business objectives with our professional experts and get curated solutions for all your business needs. Make the most of the Springwood marketing automation service to make a positive impact on your brand and the business world.

Keywords - martech, marketing automation, customer retention, growth strategy, martech implementation