John Varvatos: Building a Luxury App Experience with a Lean Team

John Varvatos is a luxury menswear brand known for its rock-and-roll aesthetic and white-glove retail experience. 

For years, their in-store team had perfected the art of VIP treatment — personal styling, private lounges, and one-to-one attention that made customers feel part of the brand’s inner circle.

But as more customers shopped online, the team saw an opportunity to extend that same premium experience beyond the store walls, through a branded mobile app.

We helped them build and launch their app, and we’ve been working hands-on with them to grow it into a key revenue channel. Here’s more about their story, and how they continue to find more value from the app.

Snapshot

Vertical: Luxury fashion

Platform: Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Key Metrics:

• 10x revenue per app user vs mobile web
• 4x higher purchase rate from app users
• 12x more sessions per app user, 3.6x longer average session duration
• 10% higher AOV

Business Impact:

• Launched on budget, with limited dev resources
• Near perfect app store rating
• Supported their custom Salesforce website seamlessly

"Nothing out there provided us with the ease and accessibility that MobiLoud did to our team. You can’t beat the price they provided to get an app together."
- Nick Barbarise, Director of IT, John Varvatos

The Challenge: Big Ambition, Lean Resources

Like many retail IT teams, John Varvatos operates lean. Their biggest focus is merchandising, and the customer experience – they’re not a tech company.

They managed their custom Salesforce Commerce Cloud site in-house but had no app development experience and limited time to take on a large, custom project.

“We have a small team, with no app development experience. We needed someone that would hold our hand through the process, and guide us on how to maintain the app post-launch.”

To launch the app, they explored multiple routes: custom builds, freelancers, and off-the-shelf builders. Every path looked either too complex or too expensive.

“Lots of companies we reached out to wanted a lot of time, money, and resources. The way MobiLoud structured it, making it accessible and easy for people to create their own app, it’s great.”

The Solution: A Full-Service App Partner

MobiLoud offered John Varvatos the perfect balance of simplicity, speed, and support.

Within weeks, the John Varvatos team launched a fully branded iOS and Android app that mirrored their website seamlessly — without needing extra developers or a second codebase to maintain.

“Before finding you guys, I thought I had to learn to build an app myself. It was super hard — updates, maintenance, approvals. You made it simple and easy.”

With MobiLoud handling development, submission, and ongoing maintenance, the John Varvatos team could focus on what mattered most: crafting the customer experience.

The Impact: A Home for VIP Customers

From launch, the app quickly became a favorite among John Varvatos’ most loyal customers; their high-value, repeat buyers.

Key results include:

• 10x higher revenue per user than mobile web
• 4x higher purchase rate
• 12x more sessions per user, 3.6x longer average session time
• 10% higher AOV
• Near-perfect (4.9⭐) app-store rating

Just as important is how the app fits into their overall customer experience.

For luxury brands like John Varvatos, CX is everything. When a customer comes into a store, they roll out the red carpet: personalized styling, one-on-one attention. 

“In high priced fashion, people want that VIP treatment. If you go to a John Varvatos location today, we'll take care of you. It's one-on-one. We'll work with you, hand you a drink when you walk in, you sit down in the nice little lounge area. We'll bring clothes to you to try on. It's a VIP customer experience that we're providing. We also want to do that via our app.”

The app acts as a digital bridge that gives customers a taste of that same VIP world wherever they are.

It gives loyal customers an always-on gateway into the brand — from discovering new collections to receiving personalized offers and push notifications that mirror the attentiveness they’d expect from an in-store stylist.

“Everyone carries their phone everywhere… Having that portal or bridge to the world of John Varvatos is much needed.”

It’s a powerful expansion for their brand, putting them closer to their customers, wherever they are.

Still Scratching the Surface

The app has provided a clear positive impact. It’s driving a clear increase in key revenue metrics, and they’ve done over 7 figures through the app since launching.

But despite all that, Nick says they’re still early on in terms of seeing the full impact the app can have.

“I think we’re just scratching the surface. There’s so much more we can do to make it the forefront of a great customer experience.”

Earlier this year, the team began actively promoting the app with simple, low-effort tactics — QR codes in stores and smart banners across their digital touchpoints. The results were immediate.

“We saw an increase in how many people use the app, how much time and money they’re spending in it, just from those two initiatives alone.”

That small test revealed the huge upside still ahead. For a brand that’s built its reputation on loyal, high-value customers, the app has become a natural retention engine, even with minimal marketing.

Why Brands Like John Varvatos Need an App

Nick, like many others in his industry, wasn’t sure an app would really move the needle.

He’s since been convinced. His takeaway for other retailers (especially those in luxury or premium markets) is clear:

“Brand awareness, period. If you want to make sure you get your voice out there, you need an app these days. It’s non-negotiable.”

The Takeaway

MobiLoud made it possible for a lean tech team at a luxury brand to launch a high-performing app in weeks — one that now drives millions in incremental revenue and strengthens customer relationships.

“The app's been invaluable to us. The cost we're paying versus what we're getting back is tenfold.”

For John Varvatos, the app isn’t just another digital asset. It’s the modern evolution of their VIP experience.

For the increase in brand awareness, the boost in revenue, the better connectivity they have with their most valuable customers, the lack of time and money it’s taken them to launch the app (and keep it running) makes it a total no-brainer.

Your brand can get the same; a native app, fully synced with your website, driving more engagement from the customers who matter the most.

Get a free interactive preview of your site as an app now to see what’s possible. You could go live, with your brand in your customer’s pockets, in under a month.