Online custom T-shirt retailer Spreadshirt Inc. pushed past the $100 million mark in global revenue last year.
Germany-based Spreadshirt, No. 500 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500 Guide, generated $102.0 million in sales last year, up 9.0% from $93.6 million in 2015, the privately held web-only retailer said this week.
We can be more aggressive in mobile, social and search marketing than our competitors.
In 2016, Spreadshirt shipped to more than 150 countries. Germany was its most active region, followed by the United States. Customers placed more than 2 million orders and the retailer printed more than 4 million items.
Spreadshirt CEO Philip Rooke credits the company’s growth to its success on mobile devices. More than half of all new visitors to its site come from mobile devices, and mobile conversion is also up, though he did not specify by how much.
“With stronger mobile interfaces, we can be more aggressive in mobile, social and search marketing than our competitors,” he says. That’s because mobile ads are typically less expensive than desktop ads, Rooke says.
The retailer is in the process of developing a more mobile-friendly version of its T-Shirt Designer website feature. T-Shirt Designer allows shoppers to customize shirts by selecting a product and then choosing a preloaded design or uploading their own image and adding text. Spreadshirt launched its mobile version of T-Shirt Designer in 2015.
Spreadshirt is also testing voice-activated features that let a consumer use his voice to design and order in the update to T-Shirt Designer for mobile phones.
Some of Spreadshirt’s competitors, including TeeSpring, are expanding beyond T-shirts into such products as picture frames and jewelry. But Rooke says Spreadshirt, which already offers such products as mugs, hats and phone cases, will continue to focus on custom T-shirts. He points to the company’s sales growth and international expansion—in 2016 it shipped to such new regions as Uganda in Africa and Suriname in South America—as evidence that Spreadshirt’s approach is working.