Challenge
For many, the name Warehouse One is synonymous with jeans, and with good reason; they’ve grown from humble beginnings in 1977 selling jeans out of the trunk of a car in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to become a nationwide chain of over 120 stores with a growing eCommerce division today. One thing about Warehouse One that has never changed; their commitment to helping customers look and feel good in their clothing. The company proudly offers one of the best selections of men’s & ladies’ jeans and casual apparel in one of the broadest size offerings in Canada, making it easy for teens, adults, and families to all shop together in one place.
Warehouse One operates stores in a mix of urban and rural markets across Canada. It is particularly well positioned to reach shoppers historically underserved by traditional retailers, either because those retailers have limited size or product offerings, or because they don’t operate bricks & mortar locations outside of major urban centres. With this in mind, the company recognized the need to create a seamless, multichannel experience for its customers, and realized its legacy eCommerce platform could not live up to expectations of people who are increasingly placing their orders online or via mobile devices.
Our previous website and eCommerce platform “really didn’t fit our customers’ needs, either from a functionality or reliability perspective,” says Stacey Kurbis, Marketing Manager with Warehouse One. “We spent a disproportionate amount of our time just trying to keep the site running and up-to-date.”
The retailer also wanted to change direction away from the third-party provider maintaining the site. “They weren’t experienced enough or properly equipped to help us grow our business in the way we wanted,” Kurbis continued, “and couldn’t offer insights beyond upgrading our legacy platform that we knew was going end-of-life.
One of Warehouse One’s main priorities was to ensure it could serve customers across the country in a variety of different markets. A smaller store in a more remote part of the country, for example, might not carry every product Warehouse One offers, so they wanted customers to be able to order online and have items delivered to their local store. Also, many shoppers wanted the ability to browse online for specific products in inventory from their smartphones while shopping at Warehouse One stores. Finally, for customers pressed for time or without a physical store nearby, the company wanted to make it fast and simple to explore their site day or night on any device.
Solution
“The end goal was just to make it easier for people to find what they were looking for, whether they were on a mobile device or not,” Kurbis explained. Building a new, engaging, mobile-responsive website with rich functionality and cutting-edge eCommerce “was a chance for us to reset how we engage with our customers.”
Working closely with OnX to redesign and reorganize their site, Warehouse One decided to simplify the look and functionality, using drop-down menus to make it easier to navigate. OnX also enabled Warehouse One customers to use complex searches on the site to find precise products and sizes to match their needs.
Based on Warehouse One’s carefully defined customer needs, OnX recommended Salesforce Commerce Cloud as the eCommerce engine for the site. Once OnX certified experts implemented and optimized the platform, Warehouse One gained a wealth of eCommerce functionality along with Salesforce’s world-class CRM, used to connect with and convert customers no matter the touch point. Just as important, Warehouse One increased financial flexibility with the platform because it did not have to make a substantial investment upfront. Salesforce structures its business model so that it has a stake in the success of its retailer clients and can grow with them over time.
That wasn’t the case for the Warehouse One’s previous eCommerce platform and service provider. Lori Grevstad, Warehouse One’s eCommerce Manager, added, “There was no skin in the game for them, and they didn’t appear to be super motivated to help us grow our business and increase our revenue.” Today, the company feels like it has a solid, committed partnership with OnX and Salesforce.
ECOMMERCE MODERNIZATION SERVICE
Results
Kurbis, Warehouse One’s Marketing Manager, expressed that their conversion rates more than doubled since the website redesign and addition of Salesforce Commerce Cloud. The site also makes it possible to have products purchased online sent directly to customers’ local stores.
“That very quickly became 15-20 percent of our orders now being shipped to stores,” Grevstad stated. Offering a PayPal payment option also is helping satisfy online customers.
It’s been a really stable, solid platform for us, and we know we have made the investments in time and material to position us for significant and stable growth.
A great new feature allows customers to filter their website searches by clothing size. “It’s really easy for a customer to now go in and say, ‘Just show me everything in a large. I know I’m not an extra-small, so I don’t want to be disappointed clicking through products that aren’t in my size’,” explained Grevstad.
Warehouse One now anticipates its eCommerce operation will account for up to 20 percent of sales within the next few years, thanks to its partnership with OnX and Salesforce.
“It’s been a really stable, solid platform for us, and we know we have made the investments in time and material to position us for significant and stable growth,” Warehouse One concluded.