Scott Johnson Head of Ecommerce Technology, Harrods
#Perform2018 Redefining Luxury: A Digital Transformation Story Scott Johnson Head of Ecommerce Technology Who Are We?
LARGEST IN EUROPE Europe’s largest department store, over 1 million square feet of retail space, across 7 floors and 330 departments
OVER 65 MILLION VISITORS More than 65 million domestic and international visitors connect with our brand – through harrods.com, at our Knightsbridge store, or our London airport boutiques
£2 BILLION (US$2.7 BILLION) SALES 8th consecutive years of profit and sales growth
TOP TOURIST DESTINATION London’s 3rd most visited tourist destination Harrods Customer Service Origins
o 1834 – Charles Henry Harrod opened a small grocery store in London’s East End
o 1849 – Moved to the Knightsbridge area of London, near Hyde Park
o 1880 - Expanded to become a thriving department store selling everything from medicines and perfumes to clothing and food
o 1883 – Destroyed by fire
Harrods DNA Resilience and determination required to go the extra mile and exceed customer expectation "At the heart of our success are our customers. They’re the reason we exist, and we never forget it."
Our service standards are the same regardless of how big or small the spending may be Global Reach
Every year we serve millions of customers from around the world
But our customers are continually evolving…
To maintain our place as the worlds leading luxury retailer, we must continually reassess our definition of luxury, and make changes to ensure we satisfy the evolving needs of our discerning customers Redefining Luxury
Over £200 million (US$ 277 million) investment in our store and digital offering The most ambitious investment and store renovation project we have undertaken in our 180-year history
BUILD Create an environment that houses the world’s best brands and products, and ensure we continue to set the EXCELLENCE global standard in customer experience
DELIVER We will thrive to understand, anticipate and exceed our EXCELLENCE customers’ desires
SUPPORT Through solid foundations we will ensure we can meet the EXCELLENCE demands of future growth
“Excellence is built into our DNA." Pending Final Image
Store Roastery and Bake Hall Opened in December 2017, the first phase of a 2 year restoration of the famous Harrods food halls Store
Shoe Heaven 42,000 square feet shoe floor housing over 50 brands Cartier Boutique Complete redevelopment of the prestigious Cartier Boutique in the Fine Jewellery Room
9 Online
Renowned in-store service should be fully matched online
Provide greater product breadth by introducing premium brands
Ensure Harrods international customers, often having multiple homes in different countries, can easily shop online when not in London
Harrods.com - 2011 Starting Point
16m VISITORS 35% Fashion
Challenges
o Online proposition significantly different to Store
o No clear online strategy, very little investment
o Poor user experience – navigation, search, checkout journey
o No Content Management System
o No Mobile capability
o Poor analytics integration
o Aging unstable technology platform Transformation Plan
TEST & LEARN BUILD GROW
Repositioning Fixing the Basics Content & Commerce Re-platform Accelerated Growth Vision & Roadmap Mobile Style Insider Focus on Fashion Checkout Global Acceleration Foundation For Website Redesign Browse Harrods Campaigns Growth, Not The Brand Portfolio Fulfilment Brand Campaigns Solution Team Structure New Divisions Replatform AKAMAI Technology
Harrods.com UI o Three Enterprise platforms reviewed against 600 criteria + roadmap o All three vendors initially proposed the out-of-the-box Starter Store: REST API o A step backwards vs. current website
o Starter Stores all look similar
o Bloated HTML layer
o Complex customisation required
o Headless WebSphere Commerce + custom Harrods managed website Replatform Design & User Experience
o Multiple product templates to display product in a more relevant way
o Responsive design – single site, mobile first approach
o Speed – efficient user journeys, adaptive JavaScript use
o End to end thinking – visual consistency from store through to site, and then email Replatform Content & Commerce
Style Notes – interviews, edits, trends and features on all things fashion, beauty and lifestyle, plus the latest show reports
o Better design:
o Fully modular - virtually endless layout options
o Improved + more photography
o Improved integration between content and product
o Improved sharing capability
Early Results o More content – better for SEO
o Conversion is double site average
o Increased fashion authority
o More brands - increased product offering
o Partnering directly with brands Replatform Payment Gateways System Integration Fraud
Akamai Intl. Fulfilment
Search Harrods.com UI Call Centre UI Analytics CMS IBM WebSphere Commerce Address Verification IBM Sterling Commerce
Integration Bus
Product Pricing Inventory Customer Replatform Minimize Downtime
Scenario: Load testing ahead of platform launch
Problem: Website became unresponsive part way through the test
Diagnosis: REST API calls from website to WebSphere Commerce timing out
Dynatrace quickly showed that the issue was high garbage collection pause time in WebSphere Commerce
Identified that further WebSphere Commerce cache tuning was necessary
Proactive monitoring here now provides first indication that we have a capacity issue Replatform Minimize Downtime
Scenario: Busy week day during December
Problem: Non UK delivery journey in checkout slowed down
Diagnosis: Increased response time for API calls from website to third party
Dynatrace monitoring showed that the third party system response time had increased from sub 1 second to up to 36 seconds What’s Next? THANK YOU