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Oasis: omnichannel all-rounder with added flair

What is it about the high street fashion brand Oasis that stands out in terms of the customer? In short, it’s a great all-rounder. It performs well on website personalisation and for the quality of its service because it has joined all the different elements of its customer-facing business so thoroughly, it really delivers on the omnichannel promise.

Oasis gets the details right. It has simply displayed images across its site and social channels, and easy integration between social and its ecommerce site for purchases. It’s also consistent at delivering the experience when customers go to stores. Oasis shop floor assistants are equipped with tablets and therefore with the most up-to-date stock information, so they can check stock levels on all products for customers. If they don’t have an item in stock, they don’t just leave the customer unsatisfied, offering to order it direct to the customer’s house instead. That’s in-store and online integration at its best.

Oasis also strengthens its in-store and online connection further by enabling the customer to book a personal shopping slot with stylists available in many stores across the UK. Not only does Oasis break down the different personal shopping occasion slots – birthday, sunseeker, wardrobe overhaul and so on – but the customer can also read about the individual stylist they’ll be meeting at the appointment.

The fashion brand took the customer experience a step further with its new-season previews in April 2017, when it launched its Autumn 17 collections. It took a dimly lit, moody gallery space at 15 Bateman Street in London called The Extraordinarium and held its inaugural ‘customer preview’ alongside the usual press previews.

Inside, a hundred of the retailer’s top customers viewed and gave feedback on the Autumn 17 collection before it arrived in stores in August. The welcome brochure handed out at the entrance played with the customers, reading: “Welcome to The Extraordinarium, a curious little bookshop founded many years ago by Professor Oscar Angus Sis.”

“We chose to extend our seasonal press preview to customers for the simple reason that they are at the core of what we do,” said Oasis customer director, Briony Garbett. “Our hope was that our loyal customers would feel special: they were getting a sneak peek into a world that is cut off from them.”

The experience was an exercise in collecting customer insights, too. QR codes on product tags could be scanned into the Oasis app and gave the customer two options: ‘Love It’ or ‘Not for me’. Customers could also join a waiting list to be notified when each item dropped in-store. Garbett said: “The interaction rate with the QR code voting system was much higher than anticipated, giving us insight into what the customers would like to see in-store later in the year.

“Customer experience is paramount,” she added. “In an ever-challenging retail landscape, the winning brands will be those that offer the customer the most engaging and convenient experience.”

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