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Deckers Improves Online And Mobile Conversions With Demandware

When IT teams focus more on daily operations than site advancements, retailers with homegrown e-Commerce platforms sometimes struggle to create optimal shopping experiences. This especially is true for companies that market a variety of brands.

For example, global footwear manufacturer Deckers Outdoor Corporation had trouble tracking and managing its e-Commerce and m-Commerce sites for its multitude of brands, which include Ahnu, Sanuk, Teva, TSUBO, and UGG Australia. By partnering with Demandware, a provider of on-demand commerce solutions, Deckers replaced its legacy platform, and fueled a more efficient multi-brand, multi-channel strategy.

Increased support for cross-channel integration, improved online brand experience, and optimal organizational agility were all top-of-mind for Deckers, according to John Kalinich, the company’s VP of e-Commerce. “We had been spending our time and resources on care and maintenance, rather than trying to stay ahead of the competition,” he told Retail TouchPoints. “Demandware has afforded us improved content and marketing management tools to better focus on our cross-channel initiatives. Currently, we are working on further integration with our retail and wholesale divisions to provide the best customer experience possible across all touch points across the organization.”

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Since initial implementation in October 2010, Deckers has launched eight domestic and international sites on Demandware in Canada, the Netherlands, U.S. and U.K. Benefits of the adoption were recognized immediately, with conversion rates on UGGAustralia.com improving 14% within the first week alone. As a result of these positive results, Deckers is planning to roll out additional sites through Q2 2012, according to Kalinich. “This rollout was large and complex, so we took a phased approach,” he explained. “The main challenge was the sheer level of effort required within a short timeframe to integrate our back end systems with the new platform.”

Deckers taps into a suite of Demandware business tools, including the Active Merchandising solution, designed to provide retailers with the resources to replicate brick-and-mortar shopping experiences. Through a task-based user interface, companies can manage merchandising functionality quickly and easily. Deckers now provides a more cohesive online experience, leading to improved relationships with customers worldwide.

Demandware offers Deckers and other retailers a Digital Commerce Management framework, which tracks and controls all digital interactions between brands and consumers. This cloud-based offering arms retailers with the resources to design, build, manage and deliver consumer content that is brand-optimized to any web-enabled channel, application or device.

Building Brand Presence On A Global Scale
Managing multiple brands in various countries is especially daunting for retailers, due to diverse trading requirements, cultural preferences and distribution models, according to Jamus Driscoll, SVP of Marketing for Demandware. Since most manufacturers typically manage brands as individual businesses, there is an increased level of complexity and greater chance of marketing content silos.

“In such cases, it is essential to utilize a common platform that allows differing shopping experiences, such as price optimization, promotions, customer targeting and language,” Driscoll said. “These features must be available on the front end for each brand. At the same time, manufacturers must be able to maintain the integrity of integrations and core processes in the back end.”

Driscoll added that it is vital for brands to have full control over marketing campaigns and messages across locations and channels. As a result, companies can maintain marketing, merchandising, development and operational integrity for improved brand/consumer connections.

“For example, Tom Brady is a major spokesperson for UGG in the U.S., but American football is not important in the U.K.,” Driscoll explained. “The UGG U.K. marketing team must have the control to change messaging and visuals to pursue opportunities that match the needs of the U.K. consumer — not to mention tax implications, currency and localization within that country.”

During 2012, Deckers will continue to build its brands’ international marketing presence by gathering an array of strong e-Commerce teams worldwide, beginning in Europe and Japan, according to Kalinich. These teams, he explained, “are regional experts dedicated to providing relative content, product selection and customer service in each of their markets.”

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