From vision to reality: CHIMI replatforms to Centra

CHIMI is a Stockholm born brand with the vision of crafting eyewear, ready-to-wear items, and accessories specifically designed for individuals leading a bold and daring lifestyle. Their products encourage wearers to seize every facet of modern active living, through a lens of futuristic simplicity, practicality, and timeless aesthetics.

After just six years, in 2022, CHIMI achieved profitability and grew its year-on-year revenue by 50%. Their products can be found not only in the brand’s own stores, which comprise a flagship retail outlet in the brand's birthplace of Stockholm, a newly opened Paris store, and an upcoming location in New York, but also in some of the world's most prestigious department stores such as Le Bon Marché, Browns, Selfridges and Rinascente.

CHIMI is committed to expanding its presence in the global market, as demonstrated by its recent efforts to secure funding for growth initiatives. The company's unique approach to eyewear and fashion accessories, combined with a strong commitment to quality and customer service, have established CHIMI as a brand to watch. With the latest $1.8 million funding round, CHIMI is well-positioned to continue its upward trajectory in the coming years.

Clear vision for growth, blurry reality

Prior to partnering with Centra, CHIMI faced several challenges in managing its ecommerce platform. The multi-site structure of the platform was so rigid that it required the team to do the same job multiple times, which was a massive time and money drain. Furthermore, language and currency issues in different markets made it difficult to adapt to the needs of each region, thus limiting CHIMI’s business reach.

Despite these challenges, CHIMI had big plans for the future. The company aimed to do more things in less time and deal with everything from language and currency to combining them in different markets. One of CHIMI's primary growth markets was the US, which represented the brand’s second-largest market. To capitalize on this opportunity, the company planned to launch a new site with localization capabilities and set up a data structure to gain better insights into its entire business. The goal was improved resource allocation across the company, from marketing to internal operations. CHIMI knew that to achieve these goals, it needed a flexible and adaptable ecommerce platform like Centra.

In addition to its website, CHIMI sells through physical stores and digital and physical resellers. The company believes that delivering a 100% authentic CHIMI experience both online and offline is crucial for its success. To reinforce this impression, CHIMI planned to gradually roll out physical flagship stores in its growth markets, including the US, where it was actively seeking a store location in New York. It was yet another challenge for the ecommerce platform to overcome. 

Centra, headless, API-first ecommerce platform designed specifically to serve fashion brands, checked many boxes out of the box. We provide brands with the flexibility and scalability they need to adapt to diverse markets, channels, and customer demands.

CHIMI's vision comes into focus with Centra's ecommerce platform

CHIMI explored various alternative ecommerce platforms, deciding in the end to bet on a headless solution. They were convinced by Centra’s flexibility and simplicity linked to the multi-site fashion-focused structure.

Centra’s features and approach aligned perfectly with CHIMI’s roadmap. Last year, CHIMI reached a significant milestone as its Swedish business accounted for only 50% of its revenue. However, the brand aims to achieve even greater success this year by growing rapidly in key markets such as the US, Germany, and France. Unlike other major brands that usually focus on specific regions, CHIMI has gained traction in major markets at an early stage without making any local adjustments. This untapped potential presents an excellent opportunity for the brand to succeed in global markets. 

Centra has simplified CHIMI's operations by providing a single platform that tracks data across all markets, eliminating the need for repetitive administrative work that previously required significant investments of resources. The user interface is user-friendly, while the admin panel and dashboard make configuring and creating new landing pages, categories, and campaigns a breeze. The update has deliveredan improved customer experience and internal operations that support CHIMI's global ambitions.

Framing the future with powerful ecommerce platform

CHIMI made a significant investment in its ecommerce, rebuilding it from the ground up with the new technology from Centra. CHIMI's in-house team also developed a completely new design experience, building an international site capable of offering sales tailored to local audiences. The brand aims to increase its sales tenfold in the US this year, with plans to launch locally tailored initiatives in Germany and France, followed by the rest of the world.

In the past, CHIMI sales were heavily dependent on customers' travel habits. The pandemic, however, forced the brand to become real experts in driving sales through its own ecommerce, which is now its largest growth channel. By investing in an internationally scalable ecommerce platform and creating a completely new design experience that resonates with its customers, CHIMI Eyewear is growing faster than ever before. The brand aims to achieve SEK 1 billion in revenue within five years.

Current CHIMI tech-stack on Centra

With its new technology stack, CHIMI is well positioned to achieve its goal of becoming a global leader in eyewear, ready-to-wear items, and accessories.