The business challenge

Translating a unique local experience to a national audience

Paper Republic has built a reputation as the ultimate destination for one-of-a-kind gifts. Their Camberwell retail store, which is known for its abundance of unique, artisanal gifting options, has secured a loyal following of local customers who return to the store time and time again. To capitalise on this success, Paper Republic explored options to increase their customer base and reach new audiences.

With plans to expand the physical business to additional locations already underway, they were eager to develop an e-commerce store to extend their reach beyond the immediate Camberwell precinct catchment. With their primary audience comprising late-40s females, Paper Republic also aimed to engage a younger male and female demographic at a national level.

The insight

Finding a thoughtful gift can be a huge time commitment

The rise of beautiful, highly stylised visual content on social media, especially Instagram, has seen the demand for bespoke accessories and gift products increase exponentially. Aesthetically pleasing gifts represent the ultimate aspiration for younger gift-givers.

However, sourcing a truly unique gift that is perfectly packaged and presented can be challenging for time-poor consumers.

The idea

Make giving memorable, one-of-a-kind gifts easy

The magic of the Paper Republic retail experience was in the feeling of excitement and discovery in the physical store. Customers loved exploring carefully handpicked products presented through charming merchandising and exceptional customer service.

Assemblo was tasked with translating this unique ambience to an e-commerce environment, which required thinking outside the box. We emphasised the tactile elements of the Paper Republic experience through a mix of national digital and social advertising and local area marketing, highlighting the curated selection of products and special personal touches, such as handwritten cards and complimentary gift wrapping.

Assemblo developed the campaign headline ‘Thoughtfully curated gifts, handpicked and wrapped with care’ to highlight these strengths. We also produced visually stunning, on-brand creative to enhance brand salience, including photography that captured Paper Republic’s best-selling products styled in beautiful arrangements, and video content that again conveyed the sense of wonder and discovery so unique to the Paper Republic shopping experience.

The impact

In addition to launching our new online e-commerce store for Paper Republic, the ‘Thoughtfully curated gifts’ campaign achieved fantastic results, including:

• 10% increase in Facebook followers
• 16% increase in average basket size
• 130% increase in physical sales (from the previous period)
• Lifetime value of over $200K
• 129% increase in visitor traffic to the e-commerce store (90% of these being new users)

The successful launch of the e-commerce site, alongside growth in a downturn market, set up Paper Republic to continue to grow and flourish as one of Melbourne’s leading fine paper and gifts businesses.