How The Outnet is personalising its brand strategy

From the recent launch of its geotargeting strategy to the release of its first Android app in October, along with a refreshed brand identity, online retailer, The Outnet, is on a continual push to evolve the customer experience, according to its executive vice-president of sales, marketing and creative.

“It is crucial to understand the customer in order to offer them a unique tailored experience. To do this, we use key research tools including analytical, quantitative and qualitative style research, employed by our dedicated customer insights team, who talk to a panel of more than 10,000 customers worldwide,” Andres Sosa told CMO.

The Outnet.com launched as the sale sister site for Net-a-porter with the key aim of creating what the company said is a business that speaks directly to digital and global needs in the e-tail marketplace. The discount designer fashion outlet ships to 170 countries worldwide, offers 350 brands, and operates its customer care services in 16 languages.

Sosa said the company is pushing hard on the practice of delivering different content to a website user based on his or her geographic location.

“We have now fully evolved our geotargeting strategy, which launched last year, operating with a global yet local mindset," he said. "We have the ability to showcase certain products, homepages and designers in relation to specific markets. We react to climate and particular market-relevant holidays and events, such as a dedicated Spring Racing edit for our Australian customers."

The launch of The Outnet's first Android app, which offers a cross-platform approach, is crucial for a global digital brand and is another game changer, Sosa explained.

“We know that mobile now over-indexes desktop, accounting for over 50 per cent of the businesses sales globally. Adding an Android app to our customer UX global strategy reinforces our global identity. This ensures we are targeting customers across APAC especially, which is a key growth area for us as a brand," he said.

“Now that we have launched an Android app, we can start to analyse the journeys of these users. We know that Android over indexes in key areas such as Australia and Asia – two key territories for us a business. Being able to examine these new insights will allow us to dive even deeper into these areas and to engage a new demographic of consumer.”

Focusing on its brand is also a major focus. The company recently unveiled a refreshed brand identity encompassing a bespoke typeface, a new logo and iconography which has been implemented across all touchpoints on site.

“The look is super clean and contemporary, reflecting The Outnet’s playful yet sophisticated personality, but it is also reflective of our luxury service offering," Sosa said. "A key aim was to ensure that legibility was optimised for all screens, whether large or small, helping us to drive forward our mobile-led strategy.

“We also launched the Personal Assistant and My Designer features. The Personal Assistant allows our customers to interact with customer care for live chat assistance on sizing, delivery updates, advice on what to wear and more. My Designer is available on the homepage of the iOS app. Customers can follow designers that they love and see all their new arrivals in one place.”

Asked some lessons learned in customer user experience, Sosa said he is constantly evaluating the overall experience, and recognises that creating a dedicated personalisation approach for the consumer is key.

“From our dedicated customer insights panel we know that our customer doesn’t want content on the app. She utilises the app while she is on the go – she may be in between meetings, on the school run or on her way home – so we’ve designed easy filter options such as sizing, colour, brand and occasion to ensure she can shop anywhere at any time,” he said.

“Technology is a having huge impact on the development of the retail industry. It’s crucial to ensure you are not only employing new techniques, but that you are also ready to embrace the next wave of retail evolution. We are a very entrepreneurial business at the Outnet, which means we can embrace change and opportunity easily.”

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