Greetings!
Patagonia allows customers to click through to other retail web sites, such as Moosejaw Mountaineering, when a product a consumer wants to buy is out of stock. That's smart, said Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president at TNS Retail Forward, in a session "Multi-Channel Best Practices" at the TNS Retail Forward 2008 Strategic Outlook Conference in Chicago last week.
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| Patagonia Case Study |
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Challange
Prior to working with Where 2 Get It, Patagonia's only online sales presence was direct, through its own website. Patagonia wanted to establish a charter group of approved online retailers. They also wanted the ability for multiple daily inventory management updates.
Solution
With Where 2 Get It's Product Locator, Patagonia can provide the ability for consumers to purchase products from their new approved online retailers as well as direct. The main goal was to not lose a sale if Patagonia was out of stock.
Once a consumer finds a product that they want to buy they can click on "add to my gear" to buy direct from Patagonia or "online partners" to buy from an approved online retailer. If Patagonia is out of stock they will list the online retailers that have it in stock as to not lose the sale.
Where 2 Get It manages multiple daily inventory management updates from Patagonia's online retailers, providing automated inventory level reporting to ensure that search results are in line with actual product availability.
"Online Partner" designates the online retailers that have that specific product in stock will be displayed. And in addition, the Product to Product (P2P) links for online retailers takes the consumers directly to the online retailer's product page, so the consumer doesn't have to do the search all over again.
Where 2 Get It's Product Locator also provides US and international mapping and driving directions for select European countries including the UK. The locator is currently available in English, French and Japanese Kanji. According to Patagonia, Japan is second only to the US in site traffic.
Results
"We are continually striving to provide the absolute best customer service possible, and the Where 2 Get It product locator technology aligns very well with that commitment," said Bill Boland, creative director for Patagonia's Web site.
After only a few months, the Where 2 Get It solution has already made dramatic improvements in driving sales of Patagonia products through its online retail partners, as well as directing consumers to offline retail locations.
They've noted a sizable increase in the number of the people who have clicked through their site to an online retailer that have made a purchase, with no decrease in their other sales activity, which is a significant and very fast ROI! |
