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Bold Golf x OpenBorder
Despite being the fastest growing sport in the US for the last seven years, fashion within golf has struggled to adapt to fit the needs of its youthful audience. When Bold founders Robbie and Johnny decided to start an apparel business, they wanted to blend fashion, creativity and street culture to create culturally relevant clothing.
Long gone are slacks and tucked-in collared shirts. Bold are creating products that allow modern golfers to express themselves, on and off the course.
The Challenge
Based in Ireland and selling primarily into the European market, Bold spotted an opportunity to expand into the US given the recent explosion in new, youthful golfers. Entering the US as a European brand is daunting, requiring operational know-how and resources that most brands don’t have.
Bold required an international partner to work with them around every element of their expansion, from localised ad strategy through to shipping, tax compliance and more. Crucially, given they are a luxury brand they didn’t want the post-purchase experience to suffer for the end customer in the US as a result of operational delays.
The Solution
Bold were exploring the idea of working with Global-E, the major player in this space. However there were concerns around their pricing which didn’t make sense.
As an alternative, HappyStack pitched the idea of working with OpenBorder.
OpenBorder is founded by the team that previously scaled Lumin Skin to more than $100m in revenue. Founders Richard & Darwish found that gaining international customers was easy to do. The difficulty came when trying to get the merchandise to them, something they became pros in while selling Lumin across more than 60 countries. OpenBorder was born to solve this problem for other founders.
Why OpenBorder
So, here’s why working with OpenBorder was a no-brainer for Bold.
- Unlike their competitors, they have a dedicated in-house ads team with experience tailoring localised messaging, ad sets and targeting for new markets.
- Localised pricing in local currency makes supporting US shoppers a breeze. Overall, the platform supports over 100 currencies.
- They offer multiple shipping options at flexible rates, working with your existing 3pl, or shipping from regional 3pl’s in their own network.
- Set-up is quick. They can sell/ship DTC globally within a week.
Essentially, OpenBorder’s end-to-end solution covers all aspects of international e-commerce operations for Bold, reducing the risk and hassle involved with trading in the US.
The Results
Within a couple of months of launching with OpenBorder, Bold saw substantial growth. 30% of the brands revenues are already coming from the US, with plans to allocate further budget into the market for 2025.
Localised marketing alongside a seamless shipping experience has led to a 25% increase in LTV and a 12% bump in return customers.
“Expanding into the US market is daunting for any European brand. HappyStack found a way for us to do this in a matter of days, all without increasing our headcount!”
