About Polarn O. Pyret
Polarn O.Pyret is a fully integrated brand with RNB Retail and Brands with functional and high-quality clothing for babies and children. The concept has not changed since the first striped T-shirt in 1976: children need clothes they can play in. Clothes that let children be children. In Sweden, Polarn O.Pyret stores are operated under own management and on a franchise basis. In foreign markets, the stores are operated under a master franchise agreement. 2003 the first shops opened abroad now Polarn O. Pyret is established in 10 countries with around 100 stores in Sweden, Norway; Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Island, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.
Background
E-commerce has been an important issue for RNB which has been discussed over many years. Franchisers on the foreign markets has shown considerable interest in e-commerce and at present there are several competitors that have been successful in their e-commerce venture as a compliment to selling in stores.
A feasibility study was carried out during autumn 2007 with the purpose of producing a basis for a decision if and when P O.P should make an e-commerce venture and how it should be conducted. The feasibility study produced a general project plan, recommendations for a suitable e-commerce platform and an indication of the cost for realization and the cost for an administrative organization.
Project scope
The aim for Polarn O. Pyret with an e-commerce venture was to increase sales through e-commerce as well as in existing stores.
This was broken down as follows:
• sales objective,
• increased transparency for product information
• cross channel functionality to cater for pre-shopping customers
• develop digital communication to reach a younger target group
The projects scope was to build a complete e-commerce site for Polarn O. Pyret. The solution is optimized for inspiration and sales. The implementation is based on Wipcore eNova for e-commerce functionalities and EPiServer for web content. An important objective was to integrate Wipcore eNova with existing systems for web content, product information, stock-balance and CRM. Brightstep had the main responsibility for implementation and integration of the e-commerce platform and all customer specific development. We made sure that the solution kept its focus on conversion rate and product information and that best practices were applied throughout the solution
The web shop has a PCI certified card payment with Auriga, 4see product recommendation engine, a quick buy function and an advanced search engine with a synonym library.
Back office, there are some added feature to eNova Sales e.g. publishing status for product information, task log tool to monitor and manage integrations with other systems, tool for grouping of sizes so that they are displayed properly on the site, customized reports such as published products, most common search words, and number of orders today. Web traffic is analyzed with Google Analytics
Most integration is handled with Microsoft Biz Talk Server. eNova is integrated with the business system Microsoft Dynamics AX for product information, price information, stock balance and order status. eNova is integrated with Relation+ CRM system for membership information and bonus points.
Results
The project started in August 2008 with requirement analysis and specification, followed by implementation and testing from October 2008 to February 2009. The site was launched in mid March. The implementation phase consisted of two partial deliveries of the system which enabled both parties to monitor the progress and quality of implementation. The project was on time and according to plan few changes to the original specifications were made during an intense implementation phase. The launch was successful.
Future
The web shop has to be upgraded continuously to optimize conversion rate, satisfy customer needs, to follow market trends etc. An expansion to already established countries is foreseeable.
