Arcadia’s connected retail technology partner Red Ant has developed an online ordering in-store service for seven of the Group’s brands — Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Evans, Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis. Developed to improve in-store sales, efficiencies and customer service, the dedicated assisted sales application connects online with offline to bring all the benefits of the website to the physical store.
Designed as a fully branded customer-facing application, the system allows sales colleagues to provide a speedy, well-informed service for customers, reflecting each brand’s existing high-quality online shopping experience. The iPad application fully integrates with existing retail web services, systems and data from across the business to empower colleagues to provide excellent customer service:
Fully transactional checkout, full stock visibility, and the ability to click and collect from other stores
Allows sales colleagues to order items for customers from central stock that are not available in store
Fully integrated for real-time product information, gift card transactions and promotions
Single-screen checkout designed specifically for assisted selling with iPad tightly integrated with wireless Bluetooth Chip & PIN device to process transactions in seconds
What’s more, because the application was built on existing integration work and the award-winning interface developed for the Arcadia brands’ consumer mobile applications, Red Ant was able to deliver the service with unprecedented efficiency and a faster speed to market, giving colleagues an intuitive, easy-to-use experience that also minimises training.
Results
A multi-brand limited-store pilot demonstrated the commercial potential of the solution and generated invaluable staff and customer feedback and rich performance data. Online ordering in store has since been rolled out to some 1400 UK stores, and continues to receive very positive feedback from customers and colleagues alike as the service is enhanced in response to feedback. Commercially, the service has proved to be an important addition to Arcadia’s multichannel offering, and now accounts for more than 5% of online sales.
Dan Mortimer, CEO at Red Ant, said: ‘We’ve been working closely with the Arcadia Group for several years now and we know that Arcadia’s customers expect a well-informed, personalised service. Our technology empowers sales colleagues to deliver a truly connected store experience, bringing the convenience and simplicity of shopping online into the store and contributing to the Group’s overall innovation and connected retail ambitions.’
Simon Pritchard, Group Digital Director of Arcadia Group, said: ‘Arcadia Group is always looking for exciting ways to develop our business and encourage new ideas and innovation that will resonate with our customers and improve their shopping experience, both in store and online. With online ordering in store, combining Red Ant’s technology and wider industry experience with a highly customer-focused, evidence-based development process has delivered a major advance against our ambitions to provide a richer and more connected experience in store.”
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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Red Ant
Red Ant is a technology partner that empowers retailers to connect online with offline, delivering smarter ways to drive innovation and fully connected retail experiences.
To do this, we focus on three core areas:
Connected retail platform - Red Ant's connected retail platform empowers retailers to deliver innovation and a fully-orchestrated, truly connected store experience.
Retail applications – Red Ant's suite of leading customer, employee and business applications and tailored design services deliver real benefits now and for the future.
Connected retail consultancy – Red Ant is the trusted advisor to leading retail brands, helping them define strategies for connected retail experiences.
About Arcadia Group
For more information, visit www.redant.com or email [email protected].