About the Brand

BÉIS is a travel accessories brand that has taken the world by storm with its luxurious yet affordable products. Founded by actress Shay Mitchell, the company has gained over 1 million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined. With collaborations with major influencers, sponsorships with popular podcasts, and pop-ups in major cities, it's no wonder BÉIS is rapidly expanding.

The Challenge

BÉIS saw an opportunity to diversify its channels, scale its business, and boost customer loyalty by developing a mobile app. Unlike many other companies, BÉIS didn't turn to an app to solve a problem; instead, they wanted to be where their customers were going to be in the future.

Why did BÉIS choose Tapcart? According to Julie Chalker, VP of Digital & E-Commerce, Tapcart was a good fit for the brand and could deliver a new app quickly. With Tapcart, BÉIS only needed a couple of weeks to develop an on-brand app with a marketing strategy.

"We want to be where the consumer is, but we also want to be where we think the consumer is going to be in the future... And so I thought of introducing a mobile application not just as another revenue channel for us, but also to introduce an additional way for us to have an experience for our consumers. A two-way conversation. It was kind of a no-brainer."

The three goals that matter most to Julie and her team are:

  • Driving profitable growth
  • Diversifying acquisition strategies
  • Increasing customer retention

Of course, achieving these goals doesn't come from a mobile app alone; it's the diversification of channels, platforms, and strategies that enables success for BÉIS.

The Solution

BÉIS's mobile app is designed to build a loyal community with exclusivity. The app provides another avenue to communicate with customers, which doesn't always mean trying to make a sale. Instead, the goal is constant engagement. That way, when these customers are ready to make a purchase, BÉIS is top of mind.

"Our consumers are highly engaged, very enthusiastic on social, and all they want is more content outside of our product, whether it's behind-the-scenes at our photo shoots or exclusive interviews with Shay... Being able to bring [the content] into our app has been a real benefit and a big draw."

Julie Chalker, VP of Digital & E-Commerce

To get customers on the app, BÉIS uses exclusivity. App customers can preview new products and unlock behind-the-scenes content 24 hours before anyone else. This type of exclusivity gets customers excited, builds hype and demand, and has been an excellent tool for driving downloads.

After all, there's value in the number of downloads and push subscribers. Julie says that focusing on exclusive content and app previews has been an effective way for the brand to build that list in the same way that SMS and email subscribers are an asset. Plus, once customers have the app, it's much easier to stay in touch with them until they're ready to buy again.

The company's brand marketing team also handles a fair amount of activations. At these events, BÉIS remains focused on driving customers to the app.

"We've really done a good job of conveying to our consumer that, hey, if you love our brand and you want to engage with us and feel more a part of the brand, when you're at these activations, download our app... We've been able to track that within separate campaigns, and it's been a really effective way for us to continue to drive downloads while not cannibalizing from our other retention programs."

Julie Chalker, VP of Digital & E-Commerce

By leveraging its mobile app startup idea, BÉIS has successfully boosted customer engagement and retention.