Following a similar feature the retailer tried last year focusing on career wear, JCP.com has launched an interactive fashion show and runway to showcase its new designer lines and spring styles.
The retailer, No. 15 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, says the runway, launched the day of the Academy Awards, is an attempt to help the retailer boost its fashion image.
“The overall component to our spring marketing campaign this year is focusing on stepped up style,” a J.C. Penney spokeswoman says. “We’ve always been given credit for affordability but not style.”
Smack in the center of the woman’s section home page is a link for shoppers to start the show. A team of about 25 models organized by fashions such as floral and cardigans walk the runway one at a time. Users can zoom, pause, send an outfit to a friend, click on links to watch videos about the designers and link through to buy the outfits. Shoppers also can check to see if the merchandise is available at a local store.
Models sport looks from nicole by Nicole Miller, Bisou Bisou by Michele Bohbot, and from new collections by Allen B. by Allen B. Schwartz and I “Heart” Ronson by Charlotte Ronson.
The feature took a few months to create, the spokeswoman says, and JCP.com used Avenue A/Razorfish for help with the design. J.C. Penney sent out 15 million e-mails to announce the new feature.
“As an important part of our digital platform, JCP.com is a key vehicle for engaging our customers with the J.C. Penney brand,” says Mike Boylson, chief marketing officer for J.C. Penney. “With more than 800,000 women visiting JCP.com each week, this innovative online experience—showcasing our portfolio of authentic, world-class designers—provides yet another opportunity to show our customers that we are stepping up our style, delivering the latest, trend-setting looks with the quality they expect and at the prices they love.”
J.C. Penney also says focus group studies showed that shoppers wanted to see looks on real people before they pulled out their credit cards. “When you are shopping online, it’s hard to know what you are getting,” the spokeswoman says “This is a real life interpretation.”
The spokeswoman says it intends to update the runway with new looks each season. The retailer says it’s too early to observe any increase in sales or traffic from the runway, but says the similar earlier tool that showcased women’s office looks from clothing line Worthington, generated a significant increase in product page views for the attire.
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