Tech upgrade boosts Hackett e-sales, helps it in low-penetration countries

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 27, 2019

High-end fashion retailers are focusing heavily on boosting their online operations at the moment and this week we heard that Hackett has achieved 97% growth in international online revenue, three months after partnering with cross border e-commerce specialist Global-e.

And the tech has also helped Hackett add to its sales in countries where it has done little business previously.

The companies said the growth was due to “making some simple changes to online channels to better target international consumers on their terms”. That meant localised payment methods, the option to pre-pay duties and taxes, and wider shipping options.

It's perhaps no surprise that implementing technology such as this provides such strong results for upscale labels. The luxury shopper is increasingly happy to buy online, but expects a service that’s equivalent to what they might find in-store. They demand as many options as possible when shopping and are therefore likely to respond positively to any technology upgrades that come along.

So what changes has Hackett made? Well, it now accepts payment in 95 different currencies, which has clearly made an impact, along with the 20 languages that the website is now available in and the 150+ payment methods. Free shipping over a specified product price threshold and the easier returns process have also helped, we’re told.

The company said other advances have been made within three months of implementing the improvements and said it saw an overall 77% increase in international conversion rates. There was also a 75% rise in the number of online international orders.

This appears to have had a big impact in some markets in particular with the Netherlands seeing order numbers up by 395% and conversion rising 357%. Austria and Australia also saw both metrics rising almost as fast while in the US, there was a 186% increase in orders and 189% increase in the conversion rate. Ireland saw order numbers up 119% and conversion up 91%.

Lisa Small, Head of e-commerce at Hackett said of all this: “We can now offer our international shoppers a greatly improved online shopping experience. We have already seen amazing growth in our international online revenues across key markets. We have also been able to grow sales in many markets that had seen very few sales previously, such as Sweden, Denmark and Mexico.”

Neil Kuschel, CEO Europe, at Global-e, added: ”With increasing demand from international shoppers buying cross-border, being able to offer a seamless online shopping experience is fundamental to any online retail strategy. 

“By localising the shopping experience and tailoring it to the unique characteristics of individual markets, savvy retailers can significantly boost global online sales and conversion rates”.