How a beloved sock brand are finding their feet again
/
/ The Goal:
Deeply understand the quality sock market to develop a confident growth strategy.
Key Outcomes Delivered
$M
Detailed market size & consumer opportunity discovered across key customer types
3x
New growth regions identified
2x
Product ranges validated to invest in
10x
Growth initiatives identified
5+
Meaningful motivations & reasons to believe discovered & validated
“
This is not research that will get thrown in the bottom drawer – we have loads of things to act on and to do differently as a result.
Tim Deane - Norsewear
The Challenge
Norsewear is a darling, iconic New Zealand brand characterized by their quality products, resilience and commitment to their community and customers - with whom they are more than equally loved. (We’re really not joking - we tested their NPS and the scores are off the charts!)
Facing historic challenges, particularly relating to brand perception and focus, the new owner Tim Deane embarked on a mission with Snapshot to deepen the understanding of the Norsewear market, customer, brand evolution & perception.
Ultimately, we want to grow goodness at home by taking Norsewear to the world.
Tim Deane - Norsewear
Significance
For Tim, solving this challenge meant more than just market validation; it means fostering growth, both domestically and internationally.
This includes not only enhancing product adoption but also contributing to local job creation, supporting New Zealand wool growers, and driving export revenue to do his bit for the national economy.
He defines success as more people wearing better socks and buying less, more jobs in our local community, more value shared with NZ wool growers and more export revenue captured to help grow New Zealand.
Tim needed to get the insights to unlock growth but had to balance the current state of his business. This naturally meant, watching every dollar and ensuring partners chosen could deliver the outputs needed.
“
We are a small company and don’t have big corporate budgets.
Until I met Snapshot, I didn’t think my budget would allow me to get the information I needed.
Tim Deane - Norsewear
Our Approach
After hearing Tim’s challenges and objectives, we decided to structure the project into 3 phases.
This systematic approach allowed us to gather insights from a wider level first but also enabled Tim to use the insights to keep him moving while also working within his budget constraints.
/ Phase 1
Understand the NZ sock market as a whole to use as a basis for our research & understanding.
/ Phase 2
Uncover the NZ market potential for Norsewear, including brand appeal, awareness, customer paths to purchase, product consideration & preferences.
/ Phase 3
Benchmark the Norsewear customer to deeply understand their experience, including NPS, motivations, why they’re believers and what new future opportunities they’d like to see prioritised & delivered.
From Research to Insights
& Assumptions to Confident Actionable Strategies
It’s super important to us that the insights we uncover are understood & embodied to be of maximum value when informing growth & strategic planning.
Using this ethos, we brought all the data and insights together with key actions, outputs and initiatives into a comprehensive, yet easy to understand report for Tim & the Norsewear team to digest, pickup & action.
The results?
A project delivered well and a whole bunch of exciting opportunity on the table for Norsewear.
“
Great people, great expertise, systematic and thorough. Nothing was a problem and we got great actionable outputs as a result. They definitely met my expectations (which were high to start with) and delivered! “
Tim Deane - Norsewear
Legacy
We deeply believe in Tim’s mission to get more people buying better socks and buying less and think you should too.
We had a blast on this project and are genuinely honoured to play a part in the Norsewear story.
Their products are truly incredible and once you’ve had them, you’ll love the difference.
We’ve included some of their customer feedback below to show you just how great they are and their Net Promotor Score supports this sentiment.
Grab a pair for yourself or someone else and support Tim, Norsewear, their community and a cracking NZ business!
Grab NZ’s best sock secret at www.norsewear.co.nz
And if you’ve got a strategic challenge you’re looking to unlock, then we’d love to help you. Get in touch here.
/ Feeling is believing
“
Great product, like amazingly great product, been wearing your socks for 30 years"
“
Have bought the gumboot socks for about 10 years now best work socks ever. Iconic kiwi brand"
“
I adore your socks! I feel like more people should know about them
You make the best socks for all sorts of work situations or even just snuggling on the couch with a good book.
But best of all I now have a guaranteed to be well accepted xmas gift source for my siblings and nephews/nieces.
“
“
Bike packing around Aussie I wore norsewear socks for 15 days - they were comfy rain hail or shine. It was so tough with lots of hike a bike, socks on your feet for 16 hrs per day. The web site service is pretty damn efficient.
“
The socks are comfortable and hard wearing. The possum merino socks are warmer in a thinner sock and great for long hunts
