Rossignol Races To Enterprise-Wide E-Commerce Success

For Rossignol, successfully launching a new e-commerce site during December 2017 — the French ski gear and apparel maker’s busiest time — was nothing short of a roller-coaster ride. But the results speak for themselves.

“We doubled our conversion rate in less than four weeks,” said Damien Hars, head of digital marketing and e-commerce at Rossignol, at this week’s Magento Live in Barcelona.

On stage with colleague Stephen Le Bot, VP of global HR and group transformation, and Magento CEO Mark Lavelle, Damien described Rossignol’s evolving brand proposition and the e-commerce strategy complementing that journey.

Evergreen ambitions

Synonymous with skiing throughout its 111-year history, Rossignol has expanded its offering in recent years to become a multi-brand lifestyle company. This bought another change in the form a new B2C approach, after years of B2B experience.

“We have 11 brands spanning different markets and categories, from alpine skis to bikes, trail running to outdoor apparel,” Stephen told attendees. “We can keep our passionate customers busy all year.”

This expansion of products came in part through acquisition, bringing with it an inevitable collection of different back-office systems. The need for common tools and processes quickly became obvious.

“We’re looking to boost our digital presence at a global level,” Stephen said. “Every brand, every product line must be supported by a strong digital strategy.”

Delighting customers

One of the benefits of the internal overhaul was the opportunity to create the best possible purchasing experience for customers. The company decided on an ambitious road map to open e-commerce in every country, for every brand, as fast as possible.

“As you can see, racing is part of the Rossignol DNA. We love the challenge, and we love to go very fast,” Damien said.

To reach this lofty target, Rossignol required a single platform to manage both e-commerce and branded content in the same place. What’s more, the company needed a scalable platform at the group level while maintaining flexibility at the regional level for its country teams.

Reflecting on a successful first year, Damien said: “We started last December, and we’re now live with four brands in more than 10 countries, so it means 42 stores operating on our back office.”

He acknowledged the sheer amount of work involved in such an accelerated transformation, conceding “it wasn’t a plug-and-play project.” But the team’s hard work paid off when the site achieved the aforementioned 100 percent boost in conversions — a mere four weeks after launch.

Rossignol achieved that exponential growth in conversions with a much-improved customer experience and, in particular, a smoother checkout process. These improvements were based on rigorously gathered customer feedback.

“We worked with a lot of real users: skiers, snowboarders, and fashion addicts, to define the best-in-class experience on our website,” Damien said.

The growth continues

With customer service staff, merchandisers, and marketers in a vast array of countries all working on a unified system, Rossignol is enthused by the possibilities ahead.

For example, Stephen outlined the company’s desire to take its B2C expertise to the next level, creating an omnichannel experience to make customers feel at home, no matter the channel or brand.

“What’s really important for us,” he said, “is to balance our business between winter and summer.”

_This article originally published on _CMO.com