From Yotpo to Growave: How North Outdoor fixed its broken loyalty program

VERTICAL

Apparel

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Loyalty, Reviews, Wishlist

Region

Finland

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Outdoor Clothing

Industry

Growave Loyalty, Reviews, Wishlist

Feature

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44%

Increase in in-store redemptions with QR codes

2.6x

Higher average revenue from loyalty customers

2.5x

Higher purchase frequency

About

North Outdoor is a Finnish brand known for high-quality merino wool clothing designed for the Nordic climate. Based in Oulu, the company blends Nordic minimalism with durability to create functional garments that perform in all weather conditions year-round. Using mulesing-free merino wool, North Outdoor offers breathable, warm, and comfortable apparel. With its own factory and retail stores in Helsinki, the brand continues to push the potential of merino wool for everyday wear.

Challenge

Main Issues:

Technical and support challenges with Yotpo - North Outdoor faced persistent issues with its loyalty program due to inconsistencies in Yotpo’s point system. Customers frequently received incorrect loyalty points that didn’t match their purchases, leading to frustration and repeated complaints. Resolving these errors required manual intervention, as North Outdoor’s team had to contact Yotpo for each case, consuming valuable time and resources.

Additionally, Yotpo’s unresponsive customer support and frequent staff turnover made it difficult to get timely resolutions. The platform’s complex setup also didn’t align with North Outdoor’s needs, making program management inefficient.

Impact on customer engagement and retention - These technical challenges directly impacted customer engagement and retention. Incorrect point calculations made it difficult for customers to redeem rewards, causing confusion and lower participation in the program. An inefficient checkout process further discouraged repeat purchases, as customers struggled to seamlessly use their points.

Compounding these issues, Finland’s 2024 economic downturn has led to declining consumer spending in the apparel industry. In such a competitive market, North Outdoor’s loyalty program shortcomings made customer retention even more difficult, resulting in missed opportunities for repeat sales.

Solution

Facing Yotpo’s limitations, slow customer support, and rising retention challenges, North Outdoor sought a more reliable and cost-effective loyalty solution. To streamline operations and enhance customer experience, the company switched to Growave for its robust point tracking and redemption system, and exceptional customer service.

North Outdoor found Growave to be a user-friendly and scalable solution that was easy to implement and manage. At half the price of Yotpo, Growave offered a robust feature set, ensuring exceptional value without compromising quality. This made it a more cost-effective solution for long-term customer retention.

"I can trust Growave. It works reliably without interruptions, and the app is reasonably priced. We had a bad experience with Yotpo.”

Valtteri Törn

Head of Ecommerce

The platform’s strong customer support, available 24/7 via chat, email, and phone, ensured a smooth setup and migration from Yotpo.

With reliable performance, and zero downtime, Growave, a Shopify Plus app runs seamlessly. Its intuitive design, combined with granular settings and a full suite of features - from a points program and wishlist to VIP tiers, referrals, reviews and UGC - allows the brand to customize it to their exact needs.

To unify in-store and online purchases, North Outdoor integrated Growave’s loyalty program with Shopify’s POS system and QR codes, enabling a frictionless experience for customers.

The Results

Upgraded from Yotpo to Growave - eliminating inefficiencies and manual troubleshooting.

Enhanced omnichannel experience and increased customer engagement - increasing customer engagement and retention.

Boosted sales and purchase frequency - loyal customers now generate 2.6x more revenue and make 2.6x more purchases than regular customers.

North Outdoor switched to Growave after encountering inefficiencies with Yotpo. Growave resolved these issues by delivering a seamless onboarding experience, ensuring precise reward point management, and offering dedicated support throughout the process. This made managing their loyalty program significantly more efficient and hassle-free.

As a result, North Outdoor experienced notable improvements in both functionality and user experience, ultimately enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction.

"We’ve been really happy with Growave because everything now is working well like it should. I have zero problems with the points.”

Kati Prusi

After switching, North Outdoor enhanced their loyalty program by integrating Shopify POS and QR codes for effortless reward redemption, leading to a 44% increase in in-store redemptions among loyal customers. They also optimized email marketing and wishlist features to remind customers about their points, further driving engagement and sales.

Since implementing Growave, loyal customers have generated 2.6 times more revenue and made 2.6 times more purchases on average than regular customers. Growave effectively increased sales by optimizing the checkout process, enhancing customer retention strategies, and driving long-term business growth.