The next five years will see luxury department store Selfridges use the biggest single investment in Selfridges.com since launching the website 4 years ago.
The e-commerce investment has plans to improve the customer journey and increase sales. Specifically looking to improve the usability of the site from smartphones and tablets, which is key in today‘s digital era. Since only 40% of Selfridges online customers use an actual computer to browse the website, the site has now been suitably designed to fit a person‘s finger instead of a cursor.
The luxurious department store is opening its door to more than 100 new brands. Many will be available through the website‘s click and collect service with Cartier even planning to trail on the website in the next year. The brand‘s head of digital, Claire Higgins explains that the expansion of its click and collect service will be high priority.
“We‘ve been looking to bring the Wonder Room into Selfridges.com and how we can offer that one-to-one service with the other brands we have,” added Higgins, revealing that other brands are lined up to join the service ahead of Christmas – although she refused to be drawn on the finer details.
The investment main objectives are to expand its customer reach. Currently Selfrdiges.com has over a million visits per week to their website, with top customers consistently based in Hong Kong, China and the US. Selfridge‘s website also currently gets 30 percent more traffic than its nearest department store competitors, according to data from HitWise, which moniters online consumer behaviour.
Simon Forester, Selfridges‘ multichannel director said “We want people in the store to think about all aspects of this service, not just the channel they‘re in. People may not want to buy in store, they could be coming in to see products and then order them later at home or want them sent to where they live.
The website revamp will be under the watchful eye of Nicola Copping, ex-head of editorial at Marks & Spencer, as she has joined Selfridges.com as the new editor-in-chief. Copping plans to create a greater focus on editorial content.
She added: “The site is integral, but there are also wider projects planned like Wi-Fi in-store – Oxford Street is just about to come – and thinking about how Selfridges‘ consumers interact with the brand as well as the international business and how we can localise the offering (over a quarter of visits to Selfridges.com coming from outside of the UK.)”
