Driving Store-Level Success with a Unified Digital Strategy

Summary

BaseCamp Franchising, the parent company of Uptown Cheapskate and Kid to Kid, has built a thriving presence in the thrift space. With more than 260 stores across 31 states, the company’s brands cater to a wide audience, from style-savvy young adults to growing families, offering affordable fashion in a boutique-like environment. As the demand for secondhand goods has surged in recent years, so has BaseCamp’s opportunity to expand.

But with that expansion came new challenges. Marketing efforts across the network were inconsistent, with many franchise owners lacking the resources or expertise to effectively promote their stores online. BaseCamp needed a better way to scale local advertising while protecting brand consistency. That’s when they turned to LT.

The Challenge

Franchisees wanted to grow but needed guidance and support to get there. Marketing budgets were limited and fragmented, and each store had different needs depending on location, audience, and store maturity. BaseCamp’s leadership recognized that a centralized digital program could help close these gaps, but only if it gave store owners transparency, control, and local impact.

The Strategy

LT worked with BaseCamp to design the National Marketing Program (NMP), a performance-driven digital media strategy that delivered results at both the national and store levels.

Instead of relying on a traditional co-op model, the NMP took a localized approach within a unified system. Campaigns were built using centralized creative, but distribution was tailored to an individual store’s trade area and audience. By leveraging store-level insights and localized targeting, the program could scale without sacrificing impact.

Key components included:

• Paid digital media targeting specific radii around each store
  
  
• Use of store-owned social media accounts to boost local engagement
  
  
• Segmented creative focused on both “buy” and “sell” messaging, as well as seasonal dynamics across the country
  
  
• Individual store budgets with centralized strategy and management
  
  
• Real-time dashboards to give franchisees full visibility into spend and performance

2024 Results

The National Marketing Program (NMP) launched in January 2024, and over the course of the year, more than 1,200 campaigns were deployed. The results showed consistent outperformance from stores on the program compared to those not participating.

Performance highlights:

• Same-store sales growth YoY: 8% for NMP (LT supported) stores, compared to 3% for non-NMP stores
  
  
• Same-store buys: NMP stores similarly doubled growth in buys versus non-participating stores
  
  
• Every month of 2024 showed stronger performance from enrolled stores compared to those not enrolled in the NMP program
  
  
• Over 383 million targeted impressions
  
  
• More than 5.4 million store location page website clicks
  
  
• 5.4 million new website users YoY
  
  
• 167,000+ trackable store visits (exclusive to Google Paid Search efforts)
  
  
• 40,000+ new social followers
  
  
• Grew program adoption 25% throughout the first year, from 142 stores at launch

Building Franchisee Confidence

To increase adoption, LT built transparent dashboards that showed franchisees their store-specific results. This helped franchisees see exactly how their investment translated into traffic and sales. Data made the value of the program clear, removing any uncertainty for store owners.

By combining shared creative assets with hyper-local targeting, the program ensured that every marketing dollar stayed close to home while still contributing to broader brand recognition.

Looking Ahead

The NMP is designed to evolve. Working with BaseCamp and considering franchisee feedback, the program continues to refine creative, expand channel mix, and explore new measurement tools. With strong results from 2024 and deeper buy-in from the network, the foundation is set for even greater impact in 2025 and beyond.