RIGSBY

C h r i s t o p h e r G a r c i a D R T L 4 0 9 0 : V i r t u a l

M e r c h a n d i s i n g

Features/Services Present:

• Clean; simple design which reflects minimal theme of their products.

• Has attractive face value as well as an easy-to-use UI which allows for customers to easily navigate the site.

• Access to product categories, company blog, as well as accessing items in their wish list on home screen.

• Customers have access to information on how to return/exchange items from the website.

. Useful Features To Employ:

. • Features that better serve the Rigsby customer is the ability to shop by brand. This tool would be helpful to implement on the mock-up site seeing as it provides a segmentation that enables the customers exploration tendencies to be met with convenience.

Organization/Navigation

• A tool that I would like to implement on the mock site would be a filter that allows for consumers who are new to the site and/or not familiar with any of the brands we offer but would still like shop the products we offer by a

particular size or color.

Marketing Strategies/Brand Images The key to the success of any brand comes down to the ability to effectively communicate to the consumer that this product is right for them.

• Conveying a cohesive visual representation of the brand online is crucial for those who usually rely on visual merchandising to picture themselves in your product.

• The task is to now to understand how we can can provide this to the customer shopping our site without them missing a crucial sensory awareness that would help them identify that your brand is what they need or relates to their lifestyle.

• Showcasing visuals such as these on the main banner will provide the customer with context so that they may have a cognitive response to the brand’s lifestyle.

. Benchmark Services To Offer

• One of the better strategies I’ve seen in recent years for a brand helping a customer take notice of the personalization to their products is the project Art of The Trench by Burberry. This gallery filled with 1,000’s of countless photos uploaded by consumers online showcases to the world how they chose to wear their trench coat. This enables a consumer to visualize the many ways in which they can incorporate this product into their daily routine and make it a staple piece they simply can’t live without. Bringing a human element to your brand, especially online, helps your customer attach hedonistic value and increases brand loyalty. Implementing a feature akin to this would be an interesting venture to see what came of it.

Reasoning • The theme above is clean, crisp, and modern much like the two sites provided above.

These elements will reflect directly upon the products being showcased which are targeting the modern man who has a keen interest in sartorial goods.

• The banner that displays across the homepage which help deliver messages to the consumer of new arrivals, promotions, as well as serve as a window to the fact that we are a lifestyle brand and can help the consumer envision what others who purchase these products are doing in their lives in hopes that this resonates with the visitor to the site.

Target Customer

We exclusively service male shoppers between the ages of 18-44. These clients are looking for fashion items that will suit their lifestyle which are as various as the selections we offer. Examples of this could be a classic oxford for the married businessman who likes to add a bit of style to his staple two piece suiting. On the opposite end of the spectrum, perhaps a bomber jacket for the stylish single college graduate going out with his close network of friends for a night on the town. Most of our clients who shop with us regularly earn a salary beginning at 40k climbing upwards of 100k+. There is no predominant ethnicity for our shopper.

*Revised to include men and increase customer age base to match discretionary income levels.

Vision Statement

We strive to be inspiring in all of our provisions to our customers as well as pledging to do everything in our power to foster a long-lasting relationship through superb customer service. Offering confidence is just a part of the multi-sensory experience we offer that engages consumers on a physical and emotional level. Creating realities out of potential is our specialty and we hope to translate this expertise to a bright, satisfied, and assured customer. This wholistic experience is what keeps us going and creates a mutual sense of fulfillment that is shared between our company and the customer all the same.

Marketing Objectives/Strategies/Trends

Current strategies that I have taken notice of is the foregoing of traditional runway shows for the alternative virtual option. Recently, Tom Ford made quite a stir as he decided to showcase his campaign for his new fall collection online which was then made available exclusively through his website with free shipping and returns. I believe using this form of marketing will be crucial, perhaps not so much the technique itself but the desire to be innovative and putting strategies that are not yet popular into effect to find new and unique ways of capturing consumers interest and making them feel as though our brand is at the forefront of fashion compared to our competitors.

We strive to be inspiring in all of our provisions to our customers as well as pledging to do everything in our power to foster a long-lasting relationship through superb customer service. Offering confidence is just a part of the multi-sensory experience we offer that engages consumers on a physical and emotional level. Creating realities out of potential is our specialty and we hope to translate this expertise to a bright, satisfied, and assured customer. This wholistic experience is what keeps us going and creates a mutual sense of fulfillment that is shared between our company and the customer all the same.

Logic: I used a creative tool on pages by providing a gradient backdrop and then having a mask of an alpha image layered over top to create a clean feel. The scissors on the face of the logo is indicative of craftsmanship and gives an artisan feel. The font is in a Times New Roman hybrid that makes an easy to read and very legible and bold statement.

Site Structure:

Logic: I wanted for the site structure to cover most of the needs of the general retail space. This sitemap includes a Women, Men, Girls, Boys, and Sale Section. Through these 5 categories, each parent section can link to all the other children (sub pages) in order to house every product assortment. The site framework allows for easy navigation so that all the content is not listed under simply shoes, rather it is segmented into different product variations so that a customer may have a simply shopping experience which will translate to higher revenue.

• For the website created, I wanted there to be sophisticated minimal aesthetic feel when the customer landed on the homepage that was reflective of the product assortment. In order for this to be successful there needed to be a

white background with black text in a simple yet pleasing font that signified this brand awareness.

• The product details pages are a perfect way of creating a voice to the brand by showing the reasoning behind it’s selection and what this brand believes it’s products are meant to evoke. The thumbnail images are clean yet there

is also a series of photos that accompany the original thumbnail that allows the consumer to see what setting these apparel items are meant to be worn which helps give this brand an identity and take on a persona of itself.

Overall every element to the web page is an opportunity to convey a message to the consumer.

• I believe adding categories that consumers wouldn’t expect like linking to an external site such a lifestyle blog will be beneficial in delivering a storyboard to your products without having to clutter the website with an

abundance of brand messages and marketing ploys.

Image

• The brand image which begins with the logo is consistent through the minimal color themes of black and white and we are able to build

upon this image in it’s fullest by using many of the merchant tools given to us as developers on the magenta website. Even the thumbnail

in the header page should have a transparent background which goes to show that every minute detail was thought of meticulously

analyzed.

• Elements to the site that could add sophistication and brand awareness in converting an image is the banner that runs across the

homepage which illustrated a lifestyle to the consumer of which they can picture themselves and attach their style’s too. Banner images,

minimalistic and understated thumbnail images followed by story images as well as contrasting end of spectrum colors (black and white)

bring an element of modernity to the site, which will appeal to a youthful consumer base.

This is similar to how Alexander Wang runs his sites and carries through in his campaign images. The font’s on the page should play off of

the alignment, spacing, and family as the logo so that there is a sense of continuity throughout the brand. The images if this capability were

enabled would be great to have every preview thumbnail image appear in a black and white tone and then once a pointer was hovered over

the image the product would be revealed in color. This may lead to higher product page views seeing as customers would be curious to

explore your site in search of a treasure hunt for the right product. One feature that I thought would be useful on the site but was not

available to the platform was a smart search feature which would allow customers to enter hypernyms of search terms such as “little black

dress” and have items come up that would match this product description. This would make search navigation much easier but Magento at

least has come version of this on their site which gives customers some sense of searchabiltiy to their site experience.

Overall, the site is a testament to consistency, congruency, minimalism, and modernity.

The promotions above were created to insight a

buzz and are displayed in a theme of black and

gold to celebrate the festiveness of the holidays

without being too traditional. Seeing as the site

has an element of luxe to it, we decided to opt for

a more appropriate gold color pop vs. the

traditional red to differentiate ourselves from our

competitors marketing strategies and help us

stand out.

The information we provide on product pages as

well as checkout is very minimal providing a

“Buy One, Get One Half Off” event so that there

is little confusion and exceptions to products. This

also grabs the consumers attention to click the

click through to the promotion that would ideally

be automatically deducted from any two like

products at checkout.

The product information presented for each product includes, a description of the

garment which includes the fiber content as well as an educate description of the

weight, dimensions, and quality of the garment. Tools provided in order to give the

consumer insight are reviews based on a 1-5 star rating system, multiple images with

people wearing the garment so that people can get a true context and sense of the

dimension as well as customer reviews that enable people to see if customers enjoy

the item as well as if the item may run large, small, or true to size. All of these tools

influence consumer purchasing decisions and help to decrease cart abandonment.

Revised to include new product segments for men and children.