Tryzens re-platforms a venerable high street brand with solution fit for the future
Online customers of leading global retailer, Austin Reed Group, are set to benefit from a dramatic transformation of its web-based shopping experience following a re-platform of its eCommerce operations, designed and implemented by leading retail managed services provider and systems integrator, Tryzens.
Austin Reed, and it’s two other global brands CC and Viyella, had been operating from a legacy eCommerce platform serving all three brands, but was not optimised for mobile sales, had limited capability to offer promotional discounts for consumers and was expensive to support and adapt. An additional challenge for the marquee men and women’s clothing retailer was the fact that many of its products offered multiple combinations, such as suit jackets and trousers that needed to be merchandised creatively to provide customers both great choice and value.
Graham Green takes on the new role of Executive Director Customer, bringing together the Group’s Retail operations, Marketing and Customer Service along with their eCommerce. Graham Green stated: “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.”
Tryzens re-platformed the retailer on to IBM WebSphere Commerce, enabling it to bring together all three brands under one centrally managed platform with three newly designed sites. In addition, Tryzens integrated a number of third party applications to further enhance the consumer experience, whether it is via a desktop, laptop or smart device. This included the IBM Integration Bus; QAS for quick addressing; Peerius, a leading personalised recommendations engine; Bazaar Voice customer reviews, Worldpay and Google Maps. To take advantage of the dramatic growth in social media communications and promotion, Tryzens also integrated a number of social media platforms – notably Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook – to deliver a truly joined-up experience for customers to share and get ideas on the product portfolio.
Graham Green continued: “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.
Andy Burton, CEO, Tryzens stated: “Austin Reed and its associated brands are amongst the most long-standing and recognised in the UK retail landscape. 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. We are proud to have been selected as the delivery partner for Austin Reed and look forward to supporting their business as it evolves through our Managed Services practice.
Green concluded “Our partnership with Tryzens has been built around clear mutual goals, open communication, excellent programme management, and with each party working to their strengths. We are delighted with the results and value the relationship we have built, which puts us in great shape for the future”.