[Webinar] What AI Can Really Do for E-Commerce CX | April 7
Register Now!
1. Stay Close to Your Customer: To gain customer insight, Koio consistently conducts interviews and reviews. Chris believes that a brand must stay close to the customer to best understand what resonates, building business and products around real feedback.
2. Drive Repeat Purchases: For brands like Koio with a core product built to last, Chris reminds that growth can come from expanding into new categories and leveraging creative collaborations to drive repeat engagement and sales.
3. Think Outside the Direct-to-Consumer Box: Chris advises E-Commerce leaders to test new ideas with small experiments and learn from practices outside their industry to continuously evolve their brand and drive business.
4. Prioritize Financial Intelligence: Chris emphasizes financial intelligence – understanding your business’s economics from day one, closely monitoring your P&L, and making decisions based on real data rather than hypotheticals.
5. Proactive CX Builds Trust Koio’s proactive approach to CX is built around understanding and servicing their target customer, the modern professional man. Chris believes that brand loyalty comes from anticipating customer needs and delivering a seamless, trustworthy experience.
Fueled by a shared passion for sneakers and a vision to build a modern luxury brand, Chris Wichert and Johannes Quodt co-founded Koio in 2015. Their goal was to create high-quality, comfortable, and versatile premium sneakers that seamlessly take their target customer, the professional man, from the office to dinner and drinks. Today, Koio is redefining luxury footwear through strong customer loyalty and standout collaborations with the Jonas Brothers, Game of Thrones, and the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Meet Chris Wichert, Co-Founder of Koio!
Koio is a modern luxury footwear brand founded in 2015 and based in New York City. Koio specializes in premium Italian-made sneakers designed for everyday wear, offering refined minimalism, comfort, and quality at an accessible price.
After beginning his career in investment banking at J.P. Morgan, Chris Wichert moved to the United States to attend the Wharton School of Business, where he met fellow German and future business partner Johannes Quodt. “We bonded over our mutual love for sneakers and a shared ambition to build a modern version of a luxury brand,” Chris recalls. Their vision was to redefine luxury as both accessible and inclusive. In 2014, the pair co-founded Koio, a luxury footwear brand that merges modern design with sustainable Italian craftsmanship and exceptional comfort.
“We’ve gone through different phases,” Chris says about Koio’s trajectory. “The first phase focused on raising VC money and going by the DTC (direct-to-consumer) playbook of 2015.” They also opened four retail stores with 30-40 employees and had a main office in Soho, New York. The shifting DTC landscape forced a business restructure. After closing the Soho headquarters and keeping a few key members, they transitioned to a remote-based, international model forming a customer service team in South Africa and marketing in Brazil and Turkey.
Koio experienced early growth through its retail stores, which generated a significant portion of revenue. “With a high-touch product, people wanted to try on the shoes and smell and feel the quality of the leather,” Chris explains. When the pandemic forced the brand to pivot to E-Commerce, the co-founders had to sharpen their focus and refine strategies across every area of the business to sustain that same level of growth.
Because Koio designs high-quality, long-lasting shoes, customers don’t need to replace them soon after their first purchase. To address this challenge, the brand expanded its product range beyond office-ready styles to include more casual options. Collaborations have also given Koio the opportunity to experiment with bolder designs that drive repeat sales. “We drop one or two collaborations each year, including the Jonas Brothers, Game of Thrones, and the Beverly Hills Hotel,” Chris shares. “We’re typically a minimalist shoe, but with these collaborations, we get to go all out creatively.”
Koio peak season is May-June when people buy the Capri Triple White sneaker, a top-seller, for their summer wardrobe. To prepare, the brand begins by making sure there is enough inventory to fulfill sales. Chris admits that there were reactionary moments in the beginning when demand was high and stock was low. He continues, “After ten years, we know the cycles, what to expect, and have our processes in place.”
Chris describes Koio’s customer persona as the modern professional man - someone career-driven, style-conscious, and seeking footwear that transitions seamlessly from the office to drinks or dinner. Trust and simplicity form the foundation of Koio’s CX philosophy. “Male customers are generally loyal unless they have a bad experience,” Chris explains. “We aim to be proactive and do everything we can to make them happy.”
While the brand embraces a generous, customer-first approach to policies, tools like Yofi, a customer fraud analytics platform, help monitor policy abuse and identify repeat offenders. Simplicity is equally critical. “Making it easy for a customer to complete a return is key,” Chris notes, pointing to Loop as a solution that ensures speed and efficiency. The CX team prioritizes responsiveness, striving to end each day with an empty inbox. AI supports low-cost responses to free up agents for higher-value, relationship-driven interactions.
With shoes priced between $250 and $300, Koio is a considered purchase. “Our customers want to connect to the brand, " Chris adds. “That’s why we prioritize building a personal connection between our customer service representatives and each customer.”
Chris believes innovation at Koio starts with staying closely connected to the customer. “The world is changing, and so are people’s preferences. The best way to stay ahead is by understanding what customers want and building around that,” he explains. The team conducts interviews to identify what resonates – and what doesn’t – ensuring their decisions are grounded in real feedback. Each year, Koio challenges itself to move forward as a modern brand, allocating 10% of its budget to small bets and experiments. “We evaluate what works and make it a bigger piece of the puzzle,” Chris says, noting how this approach fuels continued innovation. He also draws inspiration from networking beyond the DTC landscape, adding, “You can learn a lot by looking at what larger companies in other industries are doing
Looking ahead, Chris says, "What matters most to me is that the brand remains consistent and never strays from its original values: trust, quality, proactivity, and staying close to the customer." After a decade at the helm, he and his partner found themselves in a unique position: the co-founders sold Koio to a new owner. "We've never cut corners," Chris adds. "What was most important to us was finding a way to maintain that same level of consistency under new ownership."
Chris breaks down his advice to rising E-Commerce entrepreneurs in three key pillars, beginning financial intelligence. “Understand the unique economics from day one. Read your P&L. Know how you’re tracking,” he says. “Don’t build a hypothetical future scenario – make sure everything is tight and you truly understand how the business works.” He also underscores the importance of “staying close to the customer” through consistent surveys and interviews. When it comes to customer experience, he adds, “Make sure what you’re building doesn’t just work in your head, but translates to reality.” Finally, Chris emphasizes defining business goals with optionality in mind to create a clear roadmap for sustainable growth. “Build a capital strategy that supports those goals,” he advises. “Because if you’re making mistakes now, it can severely limit and hinder your options down the line.”
What excites you most about E-Commerce? I would say the mixture of creativity on the one side and operations and numbers on the other side. You need both to build a great brand.
Can’t-live-without-tool? For me personally, it’s been Claude Code.
Key hiring trait? Reliability. You can teach certain skills, but you can’t really teach follow through and personality. To me, reliability is the number one factor.
Favorite book or podcast? For a book, I would recommend Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. My favorite podcast is Modern Wisdom, which talks about how to lead a more meaningful and thoughtful life.
Favorite thought leader? The world has been changing so much and I feel like every phase requires a different kind of person that stands out. I would say now, Charlie Munger. His advice is universal and spans decades.
#1 challenge as a leader? Patience. I am naturally impatient – I want to push and go and build the next thing. In business, it’s important that you are patient and to a degree, trust the process, trust your team, and trust yourself
We're elevating customer experiences at 500 top E-Commerce brands (and counting). Let's see what we can do for you!
Learn MoreBook a call with one of our specialists today to see how TalentPop can assist you with putting together a solution for your customer service needs.
Learn More
.png)
