Major social media effort helped Vildavi to success

Vildavi is an online shop that has grown considerably in recent years, thanks in large part to good partnerships and effective social media efforts. Here's how it happened.

Vildavi's founder, Madelaine Hoffman, is a trained photographer and worked for a long time in the Police's technical unit. During her second maternity leave, she took a course in programming, among other things, and at the same time had a dream of starting a business alongside her day job. She quickly fell in love with social media and that's how it all started.

I thought social media was great fun, it was a perfect match. With my training in programming, I understood the algorithms of social media and was able to reach out. In the beginning, I was just making organic content and building my brand, says Madelaine."

Samarbete med fotbollsfruar

After 13 years with the police, she finally resigned and now makes a living from her e-commerce business. It was a bit of a coincidence, though, that it became clothing.

I needed something to sell, and clothes were a natural fit.

At a very early stage she started collaborating with footballers' wives, artists and celebrities, among others, who both posed for photo shoots and showed the clothes in their channels.

Sofie Granqvist was one of my first models, as well as the artist Nilla Nielsen. Magdalena Graaf was another one I started collaborating with. She and her friends blogged about when they wore my garments on a night out and that's when it took off.

A big part of the work is in Madelaine's photographic interest. She travels a lot for work - at least outside of pandemic times - and holds various photo sessions with her models.

I love to travel and make connections. On the one hand I get to travel and meet suppliers, and on the other hand I travel a lot to shoot, which is extra fun of course.

Priceless fashion and a big push on social media

Madelaine describes Vildavi as "a happy bunch of girls with a lot of community who sell clothes online". They sell popular clothes in a good price range, in short.

It's affordable fashion. I think I've found clothes and suppliers that are timely and in high demand. For example, I sell from a brand called Stajl, which I found just as they were starting to establish themselves in the fashion industry. They have grown considerably and have now managed to create an incredible 'ha' demand among their customers. Their summer dresses that we release every spring sell out instantly and then we retailers can't get our hands on those garments anymore.

The key to success, Madelaine also believes, lies in her investment in social media.

As I said, I built up my social media organically over many years, without spending any money at all on it. Then when I started advertising, it really took off.

As a result of her social media success, Madelaine was even selected by Facebook to participate in a community for entrepreneurs in Sweden. She has sat in on several interviews with the social media giant, who asked her questions about everything from what it's like to be an entrepreneur on Facebook to what she thinks they could do better.

They said I stood out, that their algorithms had found me.  I'm incredibly honoured to be part of this, and the fact that Facebook is calling me feels very good of course," she says.

"Flexible and good at finding solutions"

Madelaine runs her e-commerce through Abicart's platform and is happy with how it works.

I'm very happy with it. I don't have to worry about the technical stuff, they have what I need. When I have had specific requests, they have always helped. They are flexible and good at finding solutions.

Madeleine's top three tips for success in e-commerce

1. Don't give up!
2. Find what you enjoy and focus on it.
3. Don't expect to make a living from your e-commerce from the start, it takes some time.
   
   

We thank Madelaine for the tips and wish her the best of luck in the future.
If you want to visit Vildavis webshop, you can find it here.