Fossil. Is the first thought that comes to mind a prehistoric animal remains or a global lifestyle brand with a turnover of $2 billion?
Exactly.
Fossil has been trying to alter brand perception in the UK and the online arena combined with our newest asset, www.fossil.co.uk, is helping us to do so.
If you said the word ‘Fossil’ to someone in the USA, the vast majority would instantly recognise the name as a brand they know. In 25 years the company has enjoyed huge growth. Fossil stores can be seen on the prestigious 5th Avenue in New York to Dallas, Texas and everywhere in between.
The US website (www.fossil.com) launched as a transactional site in 1996 being one of the first retailers to do so but it wasn’t until late 2008 that the UK’s version of the transactional site was launched and thus began a new era for Fossil UK – one that was digital.
The transition
The transition of the website from static to e-commerce was a relatively smooth operation. After the long initial planning stage, the technical team in Dallas (our global HQ) were responsible for all the programming and coding, while in the UK we had to quickly grasp how to manage/maintain/merchandise the site and process orders using IBM’s WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, and SAP’s business solution software. With the help of our German colleagues, who themselves made the switch a year earlier, we were up and running on schedule.
The design and usability of the site is on a global template, although fossil.com is much more advanced. Currently fossil.co.uk (and fossil.de) has no promotion code function, shipping options or the facility to save payment/delivery options. While these things certainly don’t signal the demise of the site we definitely could have used them to our advantage, particularly with the inexorable rise in voucher codes at the time.
Finding our feet
Over the following months we continued to iron out any small creases and expand the selection of products on the site increasing the amount of products in categories we already had such as watches and jewellery, and adding entirely new ranges like sun wear and leathers. In terms of online marketing we immediately instigated a PPC search campaign with Google and Yahoo.
After a promising Christmas period, 2009 looked to be an exciting prospect for us, despite the downturn in the economy. We knew our products were strong enough and our price points were strong enough to survive, but we quickly saw traffic and sales plateau – we just weren’t getting the message out there that ‘we are here, come to the site and buy from us’.
This also comes down to my original point that the brand is fairly unknown in the UK. While we were having regular competitions on the site to build up our database, had recently enlisted the services of Silverpop to manage our e-mail send outs, as well as introducing Fossil footwear, we still needed to formulate a strong digital strategy to ensure success and promote the brand.
Numerous factors including budget restrictions and often challenging communication channels between Dallas, Germany and the UK meant that things took a little longer than expected and it is really only during October last year that our plans were coming to fruition. We had more activity in Q4 2009 than the entire previous 9 months.
With ROI being the buzzword of the moment, we had to devise a cost effective, performance based strategy, while still improving brand awareness. After many meetings, phone calls and webcasts we decided an affiliate program was essential so we called upon the services of LinkShare. Combined with this, a wide-reach CPA display campaign via The Digital House vastly increased search budget, and a weekly e-mail from November through December further cemented a prolific end to the year whilst simultaneously brand building.
2009 was an interesting time for fossil.co.uk, and now that we have clearly defined communication channels and a strong likeminded approach to digital between key people in the 3 countries with transactional sites, we are all confident of an excellent 2010 for fossil.co.uk.
Plans for 2010
The stratospheric performance of the digital activity for Q4 2009 was Fossil UK talking to customers, not talking with them – something we intend to change in 2010.
The plans to role out the current US website platform globally is an exciting prospect which will give us product reviews, promotion code functionality, customer accounts, and flash video amongst an infinite amount of tweaks to improve the customer experience.
To complement the new site, we hope to have some UK specific social media in place to actively converse with consumers about their experience of Fossil products, and Fossil as a brand.
The launch of apparel online in the UK will nearly double the current SKU count on fossil.co.uk and outlines Fossil’s plans to be a truly accessible lifestyle brand.
Fossil UK is a huge subsidiary of Fossil inc. but our primary and namesake brand is still relatively unknown. We are perfectly positioned to integrate the individual strengths of the website and the advances in digital marketing, our prime retail locations, innovative product and extensive brand heritage; to try and emulate the success of Fossil.com and Fossil brand strength in the USA.
Author: Richard Barham, E-Commerce Manager, Fossil UK Ltd
www.fossil.co.uk