Jaimie Jacobs | Overview

The world of consumer products is constantly changing. Consumers no longer want to buy only off-the-rack products. Instead, consumers are looking for products they may adapt to suit their individual needs. According to a 2013 study by Bain & Company, 25 % to 30 % of online shoppers surveyed would like to customize products, i.e., there is demand for customizable products worth several billions (Source: Bain & Company, "Making it personal: Rules for success in product customization").

Several companies have already proven that this promising business model works. MyMüsli, bespoke Levi's Jeans, Spreadshirt, and Nike are already offering their customers tailored products. For instance, Nike generated revenue of USD 324m in 2013 through its customizable NikeID sports shoes, which corresponds to approx. 60 % of total revenue of the Nike online store.

The market for leather shoes has a volume of EUR 39bn in Europe alone (source: CBI, Euromonitor, expert analysis). Nonetheless, there is currently no major company that offers customizable leather shoes. Jaimie Jacobs is very well prepared to occupy this market niche. Our co-founder Claudia Kieserling has been very successful in selling customizable shoes offline for roughly 20 years. Jaimie Jacobs was founded to introduce this successful business model to the internet and to scale it up. Since the soft launch of the Jaimie Jacobs online shop in January 2014, we have already generated EUR 52,100 in revenue while spending almost nothing on marketing. Moreover, we agreed with AboutYou, the new shopping website by Otto group, on a sales partnership. 

Jaimie Jacobs (www.jaimiejacobs.com) is a start-up whose innovative 3D configurator enables customers to design their own handmade leather shoes online with only a few clicks of the mouse.

Design Your Own Shoe in Only Three Steps

Each of our shoes is unique and reflects the individual needs of our customers. Using our 3D configurator, customers may design over 500 billion different shoes. Our portfolio ranges from classic dress shoes for men – to which you can add subtle color highlights like a red sole or a red lining to stand out from the crowd – to unique high heels for women that match the dress and that can customized in almost every way imaginable.

Shoes by Jaimie Jacobs

We place particular emphasis on comfort. All of our shoes contain a soft and high-quality footbed. In addition, all shoes are available in various sizes. Women's shoes are available in European sizes 33 through 45, whereas men's shoes are available up to size 52. As we want our customers to receive a shoe that fits perfectly, we are also offering 3 different widths for each size.

Jaimie Jacobs' target market is the European market for customizable leather shoes. This market was estimated at EUR 11.7bn in 2013 (source: CBI, Euromonitor, Bain & Company, expert analysis)

Shoe Market in 2013

So far, there has not been any major company offering customizable leather shoes. Only a few start-ups are focusing on this area and developing this market segment. We distinguish ourselves from our competitors through 3 unique selling points in particular:

1. In-House Shoe Production

We are the only company that possesses its own in-house factory. Our co-founder Claudia Kieserling is a master shoemaker and a pioneer in the area of mass customization. The founder of Selve AG (www.selve.net), she has been very successful in selling customizable shoes offline in her Munich boutique for roughly 20 years. During this period, she has developed a shoe production process that may be scaled up and specializes in custom-made shoes. This shoe production process works as follows: Claudia develops the products and designs the basic models in Munich. The leather is supplied by the best European tanneries. We purchase most of the leather from Stefania tannery, one of the most renowned Italian tanneries (www.stefania.it). The shoes are made in our own factory in Dongguan (China) by our highly qualified shoemakers. Experienced German shoemakers train the Chinese shoemakers in the tradition of German shoemaking. Final production and quality assurance take place in Munich again. Because of this production structure, we can produce as many as 500 pairs of shoes each month. We may increase this number to 10,000 pairs per month within 1-2 months.

Jaimie Jacobs Shoe Factory

2. Delivery Time of 2-3 Weeks

As our production was designed for mass customization, it enables us to ship our unique handmade shoes to customers within as little as 2 to 3 weeks while maintaining a very high product quality. Our competitors, on the other hand, need 2-3 months to process similar orders.

3. Time to Market of 1 Month

As we supervise the entire production process and have been developing products for approximately 20 years, we are able to make a completely new shoe model ready for the market and start selling it within only a month. Thus, we can react to the latest fashion trends almost immediately, whereas our competitors need more than 9 months to develop such new products together with their external production partners.

Since we produce our shoes ourselves and do not have to rely on any third parties, we are able to offer exclusive handmade shoes at very low prices while achieving very high margins at the same time. Our average contribution margin, i.e., the difference between revenue and variable costs, is currently EUR 150 for each pair of shoes. However, potential margins are even higher. If we simply increase the number of shoes sold while charging the same price, we can significantly increase the contribution margin through economies of scale.

Average Contribution Margin per Pair of Shoes

Although our shoes are custom-made products, customers may return them within 30 days if they are still unworn. Nonetheless, our customer return ratio is at a very low 10 % at the moment.   This is due to both our customers' emotional attachment to their customized shoes and the fact that customers have to pay for shipping if they return the shoes. We sell returned shoes at a discount price during offline sales events. 

Sales Channels

We sell our shoes via three different channels, two of which are online and one of which is offline.

Our 3 Sales Channels

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1. Own Website

We sell shoes in our online shop at www.jaimiejacobs.com. So far, we have sold approx. 80 % of our products via our own website, which used to be our only sales channel until a few months ago. 

For 2015, we are estimating an increase in sales via two new sales channels, which account for approx. 20 % of our sales at the moment.

2. Online Retailers

We have already agreed with ABOUT YOU on a sales partnership. ABOUT YOU is the new shopping website by Otto group. This website received a nine-digit amount from Otto group and will soon start a major advertising campaign on all channels ranging from online to TV. We will also benefit considerably from the resulting website traffic because ABOUT YOU customers may purchase Jaimie Jacobs shoes in the "Inspirations" section of www.aboutyou.de.

About You-Online Store

3. Offline Retailers

We also believe the offline segment has great potential. Together with the Fraunhofer Institut in Nuremberg, we developed an offline concept for Jaimie Jacobs and successfully tested this concept. Our partners' stores will install terminals at which customers will be able to design Jaimie Jacobs shoes in the store. In addition, partner stores will provide leather samples, sample shoes, and personal advice. This concept is already being used by the Hamburg menswear store Lionoir (www.lionoir.de), which is situated in one of the city's best shopping streets. We plan to make additional partnership agreements with other offline retailers. In fact, we have already started negotiations with some of the largest German department stores for fashion.

Lionoir Store Hamburg

Jaimie Jacobs was founded by Florian Tremmel, Julian Peters, Claudia Kieserling, and Dr. Damir Ismailovic.

The company's managing director, Florian Tremmel is in charge of marketing, finance, and customer support.

Our second managing director, Julian Peters, supervises the entire supply chain as well as the acquisition and management of our retail partners.

Claudia Kieserling is Jaimie Jacobs' source of inspiration. A master shoemaker and passionate lover of shoes, she takes care of all things related to the design and production of our shoes. Moreover, she supervises all areas of our shoe factory, including procurement, product development, human resources, and quality assurance.

Dr. Damir Ismailovic is in charge of software development. Thus, he is responsible primarily for our web shop and for our cutting-edge 3D configurator.

The Founders of Jaimie Jacobs. From Left to Right: Dr. Damir Ismailovic, Florian Tremmel, Claudia Kieserling, Julian Peters

So far, we have achieved the following things:

• a successful financing round by a business angel and by the ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator, during which we raised EUR 145,000.
• an in-house shoe factory that may be scaled up and specializes in mass customization
• our own online shop and 3D configurator
• the successful soft launch of the Jaimie Jacobs online shop in January 2014
• net revenue of EUR 52,100 since January without any significant marketing activities
• sales partnerships with ABOUT YOU (Otto group) and Lionoir

Our next milestones will be:

• the addition of other leather products such as belts (Q2 2015), wallets (Q3 2015), and purses (Q4 2015) to our portfolio.
• the introduction of new shoe models (Q2 2015)
• the introduction of vanity items for personalization, e.g., one's initials on the shoe (Q2 2015)
• the increase of our offline retailer network to 10 points of sale
• the start of our marketing campaign in German-speaking countries
• an increase in revenue to EUR 540,000 in 2015 (which would correspond to approx. 2100 shoes sold)

Our vision:

We want to become the number 1 seller of customizable leather products in Europe 

We want to use the additional capital primarily to start our marketing campaign in German-speaking countries. The precise use of the capital will depend on the total amount invested.

If we reach or exceed the funding threshold of EUR 50,000, we plan to:

• increase our offline retailer network to 5 points of sale
• introduce leather belts
• make a cooperation agreement with a top fashion blogger (monthly reach: 100k+)
• make a strategic investment in online marketing

If we reach or exceed EUR 150,000, we plan to:

• hire an offline sales manager
• increase our offline retailer network to 10 points of sale
• introduce new shoe models
• make cooperation agreements with 3 top fashion bloggers (monthly reach: 300k+)
• increase our budget for strategic online marketing

If we reach or exceed EUR 250,000, we plan to:

• introduce wallets and purses
• introduce additional new shoe models
• hire a chief marketing officer 
• make cooperation agreements with 5 top fashion bloggers (monthly reach: 500k+)
• increase our budget for strategic online marketing

SWOT Analysis

Shoe-Com GmbH (Jaimie Jacobs)

Widenmayerstr. 52

80538 Munich, Germany

Phone: +49 - 89 / 200 953 93

Email: info@jaimiejacobs.com

www.jaimiejacobs.com