Dorko is an iconic Hungarian sports and fashion brand that blends functionality with street style. The brand's shoes and apparel are designed for everyday wear and an active lifestyle, while its strong online presence caters to a young, fashion-forward audience.
Dorko identified that urgency and personalization were the missing pieces in their online shopping experience. Visitors needed timely, relevant nudges to move from browsing to buying.
By implementing seasonal campaigns and AI-powered product recommendations, Dorko reduced decision friction at key moments in the purchasing process, resulting in a 14-15% click-through rate on seasonal campaigns and a 4.5% boost in purchases through automated recovery triggers.
Let’s look at the details!
The challenge
Selling apparel and footwear online presents a unique psychological hurdle: even visitors who are genuinely interested in a product often leave without buying..
Unlike a physical store where a customer can touch the fabric or try on a fit, online shoppers must "calculate" whether an item matches their style based on static images and long descriptions.
Dorko faced two specific friction points:
- Lack of urgency: Without timely, relevant offers tied to seasons or promotions, visitors had little reason to act immediately, leading to passive browsing and missed conversion opportunities.
- Decision fatigue: With thousands of SKUs available, customers often got stuck comparing options and left without making a choice, especially when no guidance was available to help them move forward.
The goal was to transform the online store from a passive browsing experience into one that actively nudges visitors toward confident buying decisions — at exactly the right moment.
The solution
1. Seasonal offers tailored to the time of year
Dorko introduced time-sensitive seasonal campaigns tailored to current periods.
They launched popups that matched the seasons, collections, and promotional periods both visually and in messaging. This ensured that visitors encountered relevant, up-to-date offers rather than generic discounts.
Below you can see some examples of the seasonal campaigns that appeared on Dorko’s website:
Thanks to the perfect timing, these campaigns achieved a 14-15% click-through rate, effectively activating the increased purchasing intent.
2. Relevant product recommendations
To simulate the helpfulness of an in-store sales assistant, Dorko targeted "stuck" visitors.
They introduced an AI-powered product recommender that appears after 30 seconds of inactivity.
The system analyzes the current product and suggests 3 alternatives in the same category, helping visitors overcome decision-making deadlocks.
The example below shows relevant recommendations appearing on a men's boot product page:
This solution brings the logic of physical stores to the online space. As soon as the customer becomes uncertain, immediate assistance is provided to help with the decision, which resulted in a 4.5% increase in purchases.
Results
As a result of the developments, Dorko did not provide more information to visitors but instead reduced decision friction at key moments in the purchasing process.
Seasonal campaigns generated a 14-15% click-through rate, and relevant recommendations that appeared after inactivity boosted purchases by 4.5%.
The growth came not from increased traffic, but from faster and more confident decision-making.