How Roots gets in shape for the holidays and the Olympics
Although the Olympics come only every two years, creating a boom time for the maker and retailer of Olympics-licensed apparel, Roots keeps in shape by constantly preparing for each year’s holiday shopping season.
“We plan for the holidays year-round,” says James Connell, director of e-commerce, digital marketing and new media at Roots Canada Ltd., a multi-channel retailer of sportswear, home furnishings and accessories. Roots is No. 490 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.
In January of this year, for example, Roots planned new zoom features for its web site, Roots.com, and an expansion of fulfillment services to better cover international markets. Before the peak holiday shopping season hits in late November, however, it will have tested the zoom feature to ensure that it enhances product viewing as intended. “If we don’t do it in a user-friendly way, there’s no sense in bringing in new technology,” Connell says.
Roots is constantly looking for ways to improve overall operations and service, Connell adds. Each holiday season, in fact, serves as a training ground for the next Olympics, when Roots hits its highest selling peaks with the licensed apparel it makes for the Canadian and U.S. Olympic teams and sells to the public.
Roots recently switched from running its web sites on its own designated servers to an outsourced arrangement with Toronto-based Cybernomics, which enables Roots to quickly add server capacity. If necessary during peak traffic periods, Roots can send Cybernomics files of images and product databases through an Internet FTP transaction, and within a few hours have extra server capacity to ensure a smooth web site operation, Connell says.
This year Roots also has modified its distribution network with outsourcing provider PFSweb Inc. so that orders taken online through either its Canadian or U.S. site, or through any of its more than 125 stores, can be fulfilled from inventory in any of its three distribution centers as well as from any of its stores. In addition, Roots uses an in-house demand management system to constantly update PFSweb on its forecasted inventory and fulfillment needs.
But preparing for peak business is not just about deploying the right technology, Connell says. Roots also deploys additional in-house staff for tasks like checking for accurate product descriptions, ensuring that Roots is meeting customer service benchmarks like ensuring short wait times for inbound calls, and checking that orders are accurately addressed and that gift wrapping is up to par.
Roots also checks last year’s records to view the most effective promotions, and brainstorms over new ones to try. Susan Chapman, director of merchandising solutions for Mercado, a provider of site search technology, suggests that retailers review the performance of the prior year’s search terms in planning site merchandising and search marketing campaigns.
“It’s a challenging season, but it’s fun,” Connell says.
Back...
