Michael Louis Maddaloni On Growing E-Commerce Brand

Born and raised in New York, Michael Louis Maddaloni always had an innate passion for style. Growing up working in his family’s jewellery store, he quickly learned about the luxury goods market from a first-hand perspective, while gaining valuable business experience. With the rise of social media, Michael quickly found himself engulfed in digital marketing. Seeing the power of social media and the internet as a whole, he took a chance at launching his own luxury brand - Michael Louis.

At the start in 2012, Michael was naturally sharing his own personal fashion and lifestyle via social media, mainly on Instagram @michaellouisny. The more content he shared, the more growth and engagement he saw on his profile, which organically amassed tens of thousands of followers in just a few months. Michael explains “It was amazing to see how supportive the online community was in engaging with my content and being able to connect with alike people from around the world. I was able to generate a lot of leads and business for my family’s jewellery store, and knew this was just the start of

something greater.”

With his natural sense of style and entrepreneurial spirit, Michael first developed a small collection of luxury leather card holders, released online at MichaelLouis.com. By using social media as a marketing outlet and with over 100,000 followers himself, the entire collection had sold out in just a few days.

This initial success was now the proof Michael needed to go at his new endeavor full force. Back in 2014, social media and e-commerce in general were not nearly as saturated as they are today. Understanding and evolving with the digital landscape is a unique skill that requires careful examination of trends and forecasting. Michael Maddaloni along with business partner Linda Zuckerman have shared a few key points in what has helped to grow the Michael Louis brand over the years which include a customer- focused strategy, transparency, quality products, and marketing automation.

Being “customer focused” can be a vague term, especially considering B2C companies should be customer focused; but Michael and his team give this phrase to a whole new meaning. Michael shares, “It’s about building a relationship with the customer. Making their entire experience with the brand on all touch points pleasurable and informative.

We run a tight ship when it comes to communication, and are always seeing ways we can improve the experience. By prioritizing the customer’s needs, we are not only serving them, but in turn helping our business as a whole.” Offering an open line of communication builds trust with their consumers which is key to growing any business.

A few examples of this include their weekly “Ask Us Anything” on social media where Michael Louis openly answers questions that are sent in on the spot. As well in general, incoming inquiries to the brand are answered at a rapid speed, leaving little room for hesitation or concern. They have even gone so far as to develop new product lines at the request of their customers, which has proved to be a smart choice. “iPhone cases became one of the best-selling product types for Michael Louis. So when we started receiving inquiries for Galaxy cases, and Air Pods cases, it was a no-brainer” Michael says. “We’ve been able to grow our product portfolio essentially at the request of our customers, which is inherently a formula for success.”

Michael Louis products speak for themselves, which is why the brand has continued to see growth year-over-year, with both new and repeat customers. By utilizing only the finest materials, premium genuine leathers and selected skilled artisans, essentials like your phone, wallet, and keys can be fashionably updated with functional accessories.

It’s not only the quality of the products, but the transparency that has proved to set Michael Louis apart from the rest. Sharing how the products are made including behind the scenes look at production and hot-stamping have likened customers even more to the brand.

Continued growth is not always easy, which is why Michael Louis has endeavoured to automate part of the business processes, using software to help analyse data and automate processes. By switching over to the Shopify e-commerce platform, the entire e-commerce point of sale became much more streamlined and user-friendly. An easy-to-use interface with in-depth reporting tools, abandoned checkout automations, and inventory management helped to drive the business towards success.

More recently in 2020, Linda credits Klaviyo e-mail marketing and payment installments with Klarna as being imperative for continued growth in the current day. Understanding the consumer and optimizing business practices are no easy feat, but something Michael Maddaloni has continued to excel at.