NOTE: Through January 31st we’re unlocking 🔓 these Bags & Luggage industry journeys for our free users to enjoy. If you’re currently a free user and want more journey access, upgrade to a Pro Plan today!

It’s no surprise that the travel industry took a big hit from the pandemic. With canceled travel, international restrictions, and overall slowed business, many travel-related luggage brands like Samsonite and Away have looked to email to bolster sales. In addition to luggage, this category also contains companies in the bag category including luxury bag brands like Dooney & Bourke and Radley London. These higher-end bag designers were also faced with the challenge to sell during a time where a bag purchase isn’t essential.

What we’re seeing: Email Cadence & Promotions

Even with email volume and promotions declining in the wider travel category, the Bag & Luggage category managed to maintain its sending cadence, showing flat volume YoY. 

With the decreased demand, the bag and luggage category saw a YoY 12.36% increase in emails containing a promotion. We even saw this with traditionally non-discounted brands like Away travel luggage who launched their first sale in September.

Image1 1024x671

Another noticeable trend within the pet category in 2020 was the usage of the word ‘pandemic’. This was the second most significant term used in pet brand subject lines in 2020 indicating brands were aware of the increased online shopping and curbside pick-up for brick-and-mortar pet retailers.


Journeys: Our favorites from luggage brands

Luggage and bags have come a long way over the years. We’re excited to share a few of our favorite bag & luggage journeys with beautiful branding, great strategies, and timely content. These journeys are accessible to all MailCharts users (yes, even freemium users!) for the week of 1/25.

 

Away 

Away’s cart abandonment sequence is 6 days and contains three emails. Away typically shies away from discounts (see what we did there?) so their cart abandonment doesn’t contain an offer like other brands. We love that they highlight their free shipping and 100-day trial period in all three emails after focusing on the product left behind. 

Image6 1024x590

 

 

Radley (UK)

This 4-email onboarding series from Radley is simple and elegant. Email 1 and 2 are sent within a minute of each other and explain to the new subscriber how to login to their account as well as a 10% discount and background on the brand. The remaining two emails speak to the discount, encouraging their first purchase.

Image4 1024x573

 

 

Timbuk2

The luggage brand, Timbuk2, sends 4 emails at the different stages in the purchase journey starting with the initial receipt and order confirmation. This first email is a great way to recap items ordered as well as cost and shipping address for future reference. The next few emails confirm shipment, when the items are out for delivery, and when items have been delivered so that the purchaser knows exactly when to expect their new luggage!

Image2 2 1024x580

 

Timbuk2 - Order WEBUS403444 confirmed

 

Vera Bradley

While many of the emails in Vera Bradley’s browse abandoner look similar, they did a great job of highlighting the 15% off discount. With this journey, we’re also able to see that Vera Bradley uses Movable Ink to pull in the subscriber’s nearest store in real-time. The discount paired with nearest location data can positively impact both online and in-store purchases.

Image5 1024x575

 

Vera Bradley - Take 15% off the items you viewed.

 

Tumi

Something all brands should have in a post-purchase series is a timely request for a product review. Tumi does send their review request 15 days after their shipping confirmation giving the purchaser plenty of time to receive their package. We love that these are quick, easy emails where the customer can provide feedback and inform future shoppers.

Image3 1024x914

 

 

Get more in the MailCharts app

Want more Bag & Luggage journeys not listed above? Upgrade your account or log in to access.

Post tags   Ecommerce Insights