Fenwick has taken a significant step forward to achieving its stated goal of launching an ecommerce platform by signing on a CRM specialist firm to help deliver it.
The department store retailer has selected Salesforce for its commerce cloud, marketing cloud and service cloud to help roll out a digital shopping experience for the first time ever in its 135-year history.
The news comes after Fenwick announced in April that it planned to “modernise and reorganise the business”, which also includes centralising its operations.
While the independent business, which currently trades from nine locations, has struggled to achieve groundbreaking sales growth in recent years, it is one of the few department stores in the country that does not provide the option for customers to purchase directly from its website.
Fenwick’s digital director Kate Smyth said the new digital development would offer customers “an experience that is unique and tailored to the local market” as well as allowing them to access Fenwick across multiple devices.
The news comes during a tumultuous period for British department store chains, which are dealing with declining in-store sales across a vast estate.
Earlier this year, Debenhams and John Lewis revealed diving profits while retail bellwether Marks & Spencer is in the midst of a major turnaround strategy that includes closing 100 stores by 2020.
Meanwhile, just last week House of Fraser launched a CVA that includes plans to close more than half of its 59 stores in order to remain viable.
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