How Frankies Bikinis opened 6 retail stores in 2 years with Leap

“Before partnering with Leap, launching our own brick-and-mortar store would’ve taken one or two years. Thanks to their platform, premium network of retail locations, and understanding of regional markets, we’ve opened six in that same timeframe.” — Emma Johnson, Director of Retail and Operations at Frankies Bikinis

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About

Frankies Bikinis, the female-led lifestyle brand founded by Francesca Aiello, is celebrated for its trendy swimwear and inclusive designs that cater to women of all sizes. Since launching in 2012, Frankies has gained international recognition, collaborated with celebrities like Sydney Sweeney and Gigi Hadid, and expanded their offerings to include ready-to-wear clothing inspired by the California beach lifestyle.

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Challenge

Expanding into retail was a huge but necessary undertaking for unlocking growth

By 2022, Frankies Bikinis had built their reputation online as the go-to bikini brand for “It Girls,” enjoying staggering growth in the process. As brand recognition grew, shoppers would be looking for in-person experiences where they could try the swimwear on. So the Frankies Bikinis team knew they’d soon need to expand offline.

Francesca Aiello, Frankies’ Founder and Creative Director, had always dreamed of opening a retail store in the place where it all started — her hometown, Malibu, CA. Plus, with warm weather year-round, the upscale beach community seemed like the perfect location to shore up off-season sales for the brand’s hero products and build awareness for its recent knit collection.

So, with Malibu in mind, Emma Johnson, Director of Retail and Operations, set out to find the best storefront for the ecommerce-focused brand. However, she ran into several hurdles:

• High barrier to entry: To create a retail experience that matched Frankies’ branding and met customer expectations, Emma needed help constructing the storefront, designing the merchandising strategy, and running the location’s daily operations.
• Long leases with no guarantee of long-term demand: Commercial leases in prime Malibu locations often span 10 years. However, without data proving that an offline experience would be profitable, the decade-long commitment posed a significant risk for the brand.‍
• Slow speed to market: Emma projected that it would take a year to get Frankies’ first physical location up and running. In the meantime, the company would need to pay for a storefront that wasn’t generating revenue — let alone profits.‍
• Limited offline retail experience: Frankies’ young, lean team had proven themselves as ecommerce experts. However, they quickly discovered that brick-and-mortar retail requires an entirely different set of skills and expertise.

Emma trusted that her team could learn brick-and-mortar best practices with time, but she knew it wasn’t the best use of their skills. While they learned the ropes, the existing challenges would continue to multiply. That’s when Frankies turned to Leap.

“Entering the retail space is a huge undertaking. We needed dedicated teams to help build our retail strategy and deploy the store — all before we even knew whether our first store location was suitable.” — Emma Johnson, Director of Retail and Operations at Frankies Bikinis

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Solution

Benefit #1: Validating store locations with market data to minimize risk

With Leap’s first-party data and market insights, Emma easily compared factors like market size and consumer demographics in dozens of high-profile markets nationwide. This allowed her to verify that sunny Malibu was indeed a great location for Frankies’ first retail store. However, it also revealed a better — and somewhat surprising — location: New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood.

Thanks to its high tourist traffic and younger demographic, SoHo had the potential for steady year-round sales. But relocating their search to the opposite coast meant the Frankies team couldn’t lean on their local knowledge like they could with Malibu. Thankfully, Leap had the real estate data and local shop density to help them find a retail location to call home. The ideal storefront for Frankies Bikinis placed them on Mercer Street, a high-traffic area known for its trend-setting boutiques and upscale shops.

And thanks to Leap’s strong landlord relationships, Frankies secured a 1,100-square-foot space in a highly desirable neighborhood with an initial 18-month commitment — in just 10 weeks. The shorter term made it a much more flexible arrangement, enabling Frankies to test retail without overcommitting.

Benefit #2: Developing an immersive retail experience on time and within budget

With retail space secured, Leap’s design team carefully curated each detail of the shopping experience to share Frankies’ unique story with its new SoHo audience. Meanwhile, Francesca and Stef Modares, Frankies’ Visual Design Director, maintained control over the final vision.

For example, the team incorporated soft blues and florals reminiscent of the brand’s Southern California home. Then, to tie the brand to its trendy SoHo address, the larger-than-life displays out front represent the “endless possibilities that the city of New York is known for,” their team explains.

Simultaneously, Leap’s store development team set to work on a comprehensive construction plan. They coordinated with Emma on the entire project, including vendors, schedules, and budgeting. This empowered her to set realistic expectations with the brand’s marketing team and other stakeholders — all while focusing on Frankies’ in-house competencies.

Best of all, the Frankies Bikinis SoHo store was ready to open only two months after signing the lease. This efficient launch ensured Frankies not only entered this market faster but that the location was profitable sooner, paving the way for further retail expansion.

Benefit #3: World-class retail operations backed by Leap’s local networks

From landing on the right location to running the store, the Leap partnership helps Frankies Bikinis expertly navigate the rough waters of brick-and-mortar. For instance, ahead of the store’s Spring 2022 launch, Leap took charge of recruiting, hiring, and developing a robust, brand-specific training program for the store manager and store team.

Once a new store opens, Leap continues to support daily operations on the brand’s behalf. By leaning on their local networks, Leap can help Frankies with a variety of needs, from hiring additional retail associates for seasonal sales to recommending local partners for in-store events. For example, Leap arranged Fleurotica Flowers, a floral design studio in Lower Manhattan, to decorate Frankies’ SoHo store for the celebration of its collab with Gigi Hadid.

Then, Leap continues to build its local knowledge by adding customer emails to its system of record (Universal Customer File), so they can promote Frankies’ stores to local shoppers who haven’t visited before.

Benefit #4: Data-driven insights at scale to support ongoing operations

All the while, the Frankies team informs its restocks with the clear store performance insights it gets from Leap, such as daily sales, foot traffic, and even local weather, ultimately optimizing its overall merchandising strategy.

For example, the SoHo store dedicates more floorspace to knitwear than swimwear in the wintertime. However, unlike other stores in the area, Frankies continues to offer swimwear year-round to meet the market’s demand because:

1. Locals often travel to warmer climates to escape New York’s winter weather
2. Tourists who follow the brand online expect to find swimwear in the store

Insights like these have become the backbone of Frankies’ larger retail strategy. This includes which markets to enter next and the most efficient way to expand their retail footprint. For example, after seeing remarkable demand for the brand’s knitwear collection, Emma worked with the Leap team to identify Chicago as the best location for a store dedicated to its winter line.

“Leap’s team empowers us to conceptualize and execute our ideas. Before, we aimed to open a single store in a year. But thanks to Leap’s retail experience and amazing design and construction team, we opened three stores in that same time frame.” — Frank Messmann, COO & Partner at Frankies Bikinis

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Results

Frankies Bikinis now attributes a significant part of its sales to brick-and-mortar

Fast-forward two years, and Frankies Bikinis has six stores nationwide powered by the Leap Platform — including its original dream location in Malibu and a knitwear-focused collective in Chicago. Thanks to Leap’s extensive insights, expertise, and local resources, all these locations have been highly profitable since day one, establishing retail as a powerful growth channel for the brand.

Even more, Frankies Bikinis’ partnership with Leap transformed the brand’s locations into a key driver for customer acquisition. As a result, Frankies’ store sales have been climbing at an impressive speed, elevating the brand to new heights:

• 6 retail stores in premium locations, with several more in development
• More than 50% of in-store customers are new to the brand
• 30% increase in YoY sales during peak months
• Significant portion of total sales attributed to brick-and-mortar
• 500% growth in brick-and-mortar retail space

“Having a large social media presence and direct online business, we assumed the vast majority of in-store customers would already be in our database. This wasn’t the case — less than half have previously shopped with Frankies online.” — Frank Messmann, COO & Partner at Frankies Bikinis