The success formula behind e5's media budget
E5, the Belgian fashion retailer, faces a significant strategic challenge. Over the 45 years e5 has been in business, its customer base aged alongside the brand. Today, e5 is targeting a much broader age range, with customer loyalty as the cornerstone of that strategy.
Customer Loyalty
Through our own in-house Brand Tracker by DPG Media Advertising (see image), we can see that e5 is a strong player in the older demographic category. Their commitment to delivering quality, stylish clothing — combined with effective direct marketing efforts such as mailings, postal deliveries and leaflets — has been crucial to their success and has reinforced their leadership position in the market.
Through its existing marketing strategy, e5 has managed to break through the traditional seasonal sales cycle. Rather than attracting customers only during promotional periods, they succeed in retaining a loyal customer base and drawing shoppers into stores even outside those windows. That's no small feat — but it comes with real challenges and intensive effort. Which brings us to the first core question: is further optimisation possible within their current direct marketing approach?
The challenge: e5 put three core questions to us:
How do we optimise our direct marketing approach without impacting our customer portfolio?
How do we divide our total media budget between driving customer loyalty and attracting new customers?
Is the current marketing budget allocation competitive enough to meet our revenue targets?
Optimising direct marketing
Our analysis showed that direct marketing remains an indispensable part of e5's marketing mix, regardless of their strategic objectives. We found that their direct marketing budget can be reduced by 5.4% without any negative impact on effectiveness. Any further reduction, however, risks diminishing results.
Budget split between customer loyalty and new customers
Currently, e5 allocates 60% of their budget to loyalty and 40% to customer acquisition. Given their strategic ambition to reach more new customers, we calculated an ideal balance. This new split gives e5 the right mix to both retain their loyal customers and attract new ones.
Refining the Media Budget Towards 2025
The analysis revealed that the impact of print differed between loyal customers and new customers. Our advice was therefore to gradually shift from print to other above-the-line media for new customer acquisition, while keeping print focused on driving loyalty. We also uncovered digital opportunities to reach a broader audience — giving e5 a potential competitive edge.
Want to know how to apply Marketing Mix Modelling insights to your business? Download our whitepaper or get in touch with our research team to optimise and strengthen your marketing strategies.
Want to know how to apply Marketing Mix Modelling insights to your business? Download our whitepaper or get in touch with our research team to optimise and strengthen your marketing strategies.
