Online-only women’s swimwear retailer Andie Swim wants to buy the right bathing suit cover ups more easily – even a pleasant process.
“The swimwear shopping experience is broken,” said Melanie Travis, founder and CEO of Andie Swim. She said she set out to solve the problem and save shoppers a store trip, which is often a frustrating experience when looking for a price and age-appropriate swimsuit.

Swimwear retailers sell products directly to consumers on AndieSwim.com. It offers 26 swimwear styles and 135 SKUS, which will increase to 225 SKU when the new vacation collection is launched in November this year. Travis said that Andy Swimming was launched in April 2017, sales increased by 500% year-on-year, and refused to provide specific figures.

“Swimming is a very fragile purchase,” Travis said, which is why AndieSwim.com has a Fit Finder feature that helps shoppers find the Andy style that best suits her body and personal style.
The Fit Finder test asks the shopper a series of five questions: if she has an hourglass, pear, long and thin, or apple shape; if she likes to wear a one-piece swimsuit, a two-piece swimsuit or both; if she She has a long or short torso; she likes to show off her body parts; she plans to wear swimsuits, such as hanging around the pool and playing beach volleyball with the children on the beach; what is her personal style, such as classic, modern or minimalist. After the results are tabulated in the algorithm, Fit Finder provides some style for the shopper.
Retailers offer free shipping, returns and exchanges, and there is no price threshold to satisfy, so if she is not sure which swimsuit is the best fit, shoppers can order any number of swimsuits. She can then return within 30 days and return the returned swimsuit items. All orders are shipped from the New Jersey distribution center via USPS. “Women usually don’t buy swimwear, they buy when they need it, such as an upcoming vacation or party. So fast transportation is very important,” Travis said.

In March 2018, Andie Swim received $2.3 million in the first round of financing from investors such as Demi Moore and contact e-retailer Hubble Contacts co-founder Jesse Horwitz. The fund round is led by venture capital firms Two River Capital and Sonostar Venture.

Renewed
To promote further growth and invest in new funding, Andie Swim redesigned and relaunched its website in May 2018, which is based on BigCommerce’s e-commerce platform. Travis said that the new website does not focus all design work and resources on the over-designed home page, but provides more details on the product page.

“We used to have a photo click to see the details of the swimsuit. Now we have an image carousel for each product,” Travis said.
The product details page also includes a size guide, a detailed description of the product, a horizontal view of the customer’s favorite products, a visual list, and customer reviews and questions – supported by the commercial company YotPo, integrated with BigCommerce. “If there are no comments, many people will not waver. It becomes very complete,” Travis said.

The redesign also includes the addition of the Fit Finder quiz, which is located in the front and middle of the navigation bar and adds links throughout the site. Andie Swim also launched a recommendation program for the recommended marketing platform Extole, which is also integrated with the BigCommerce platform. If a shopper shares her purchase with a friend or family member, they will receive a $25 shopping discount and the shopper will receive $25 for the next purchase.
As network traffic and conversions increase, the restart pays off. According to data from network measurement company Similar Web Ltd., within six months of the restart, AndieSwim.com had less than 5,000 visitors per month (except for 14,700 visits in January 2018), and Andie Swim has seen it. Its traffic increased from 12,000 to more than 45,000 per month in July. In addition, the site’s conversion rate increased by 250%, and return users increased by 300%. Travis said that much of this growth was attributed to its redesign and large-scale marketing promotion.

“We have defeated our goals with the greatest expectations,” Travis said. “Now, we are at the end of this huge season we just had. So, now we start the process again to find out what works and what doesn’t.”

Travis said part of the process is to update the collection with new styles and colors, including the holiday collection released in November and the new spring of 2019.