Austin Reed Group has re-platformed its ecommerce website as it looks to grow its sales at home and abroad.
The menswear and womenswear retailer, along with its CC and Viyella brands, has moved moved from a legacy platform to IBM WebSphere Commerce. The move, implemented by Tryzens, means Austin Reed will be able to show shoppers its clothes in the most intuitive ways – enabling, for example, customers to pair different trousers and jackets – while optimising for mobile devices and showing relevant offers.
Graham Green, executive director, customer, at Austin Reed, said: “Our existing websites had served the business well but were increasingly becoming out-dated and placed barriers on our significant growth aspirations. A fresh approach was needed to enable us to take advantage of online and digital commerce in a way that wasn’t currently accessible to us. Not only are our sites fully optimised for mobile and tablet devices and highly responsive, they are also capable of marketing stackable promotions and a variety of offers to customers more innovatively, clearly and efficiently.”
On IBM, all three brands now run from one centrally managed platform and have newly designed sites. Tryzens also integrated third-party applications such as quick addressing solution QAS, personalised recommendation engine Peerius, customer reviews rom BazaarVoice alongside WorldPay and Google Maps. Social media platforms including Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook have also been integrated, helping customers to share their finds.
Green said: “Through our investment in IBM and our partnership with Tryzens, we have been able to deliver a more user friendly website that stays true to the values of our business and brands whilst taking full advantage of technology and social networking advances. We have increased our ability to merchandise our products effectively to improve the experience for our customers, as well as offering enhanced delivery options. To support our successful international expansion we have enriched the experience of our overseas customers by providing the ability to purchase in multiple currencies, a critical step forward to underpin our future growth.”
Tryzens chief executive Andy Burton said: “We have formed a great partnership with Austin Reed who have recognised that the shopping experience for many of its customers was changing, becoming more sophisticated, and, in many ways more fragmented, for example by access device, location, engagement and so on.
“Together we had to rise to the challenge to deliver a solution that could provide the foundation for long term growth as well as deliver near term commercial success. The shopper of today expects to be able to buy the product they want, in the currency of their local market, when they want it, in the sizes and colours they need, and all delivered from the click of a button and delivered to the location of choice. Austin Reed have shown clear thought leadership in their market to implement a solution that can grow with them as their business expands and evolves.”
