The last few months have challenged our business to find out-of-the-box ways to deliver products directly to consumers in safe and engaging ways, all while being sensitive to their personal struggles and changing needs.
The Direct to Consumer (DTC) team has met and exceeded this challenge, finding new ways to drive online business, including expediting initiatives like ship from store and curbside pickup, and creating a seamless, omni-channel shopping experience.
Heading Online
By April, 75 percent of our global fleet of stores had closed their doors. Still eager to shop even while stuck at home, consumers went online, incentivized by promotions, new exclusives and unique collaborations.
Recent bright spots include our collaborations which have been extremely successful. The Levi’s® x Super Mario™ collection was successful around the globe and the special edition Levi’s® x New Balance 1300 sneaker sold out in just seconds on Levi.com, the Levi’s® app and NewBalance.com. People also responded extremely well to our Levi’s® x Golf collaboration and LVC Golden Ticket 501® Jeans.
Store doors closing wasn’t enough to stop our retail team from getting consumers their favorite Levi’s® product. Stepping up to the challenge, the team established several new programs to move inventory out of stores and onto consumers’ doorsteps, including Ship From Store and curbside pickup.
Ship from Store
Ship From Store uses both in-store and levi.com inventory to fulfill online orders. Prior to ship from store, consumers shopping on levi.com only saw the inventory that was available at our distribution centers. Now, in-store product is included in the available inventory, providing more choice and often faster delivery.
“The capacity the store team was able to scale to with Ship From Store in a matter of weeks was the equivalent of an ecommerce distribution center coming online – which is typically something that would take several months (or sometimes a year) to do,” said Rico Arrastia, Head of Digital Operations in the Americas. “I can’t think of any other way that we could’ve gotten to that additional capacity without Ship From Store.”
In the U.S., many stores are taking part in Ship From Store – with more to come!
Curbside Pickup
The team also recently introduced curbside pickup, which is now live in more than 150 stores in the U.S., Canada and Brazil, and in Europe we’re now offering in-line pickup. Curbside pickup allows consumers to shop our stores via levi.com; once they place the order, instead of waiting for the product to ship, the consumer drives to the store and the store manager delivers the product to their car to ensure social distancing.
Soon, we will offer Reserved Shopping appointments, where consumers can skip the line at their local store by making an appointment to shop. Store managers are also adding details to product reviews to ensure consumers have knowledge about the styles and fits to increase consumer satisfaction with their purchases.
This is only a sliver of what the organization has done to put our best foot forward throughout this crisis. Even as our stores have started to re-open, globally and across the U.S., these new programs allow our fans to show how and when they want to shop. The entire team has prioritized safe engagements with consumers, and we are grateful to everyone’s agility, creativity and passion for the business and our consumers.
