The challenge
Active Safety sells the gear working people trust their bodies to: Steel Blue and Blundstone boots, 3M safety equipment, FXD and Bisley workwear, Bollé eyewear, fourteen brands in all, through physical stores, e-commerce, and a B2B sales representative network serving trade and industrial accounts.
The customer base was solid but transactional. Tradespeople bought when something wore out, from whoever was nearest. There was no systematic reason to come back to Active Safety specifically, and the digital channels weren't pulling their weight against the counter trade.
How the strategy was built
The research phase was mostly listening. The B2B reps and store staff answered the same customer questions daily, and they drew the segmentation no report had: the site foreman provisioning a crew buys on durability, compliance and account terms; the retail walk-in replacing worn boots buys on comfort and brand trust. Same store, same products, entirely different purchase logic. Market research and brand-principal input then mapped where each of the fourteen brands sat in a tradesperson's mind, premium boots, everyday workwear, specialist PPE, so the portfolio could be positioned deliberately instead of competing with itself on the same shelf.
The strategy followed directly: behavioural segments got their own email streams, offers and timing, product cycles included, because boots wear out on a schedule and PPE gets reordered by the box. The channels were then unified so a campaign worked in a retail aisle, an e-commerce session and a rep's site visit alike.
What I did
- Built retention into the email program. Automation and segmentation that treated a site foreman, a workshop buyer and a retail walk-in differently, right offer, right product cycle, right time, improving customer retention by 20%.
- Drove the digital storefront. Content, campaigns and optimization that lifted online visits 45%, turning the website into a genuine second counter.
- Unified marketing across every channel the business sold through. Stores, e-commerce, websites and the B2B rep network, with sales collateral and campaign material that worked in a retail aisle and a site office alike.
- Positioned the brands deliberately. Market research and brand-positioning strategy across a portfolio where each label held a different place in a tradesperson's mind, premium boots vs. everyday workwear vs. specialist PPE.
- Ran the stakeholder web. Fourteen brand principals, external agencies and contractors, coordinated so campaigns shipped on time and on brand.
The feedback loop
Retention metrics close their own loop if you let them: repeat-purchase rates by segment, email engagement by stream, and unsubscribes as the honesty check on frequency. But the fastest feedback came from the counter and the reps, which offers customers mentioned, which promotions moved stock, which messages a foreman actually repeated back. Segments, send timing and offers were adjusted on that combined evidence, and the 20% retention improvement was the compounding result.
The results
- 20% improvement in customer retention through email automation and segmentation
- 45% increase in online visits
- A single coherent marketing function across stores, web and B2B reps
- Full-portfolio brand positioning grounded in market research
Why it matters
Retention is the quiet profit engine of retail and e-commerce. This role shows the lifecycle-marketing muscle, segmentation, automation, offer timing, that translates directly to any business where repeat purchase drives the economics.