Case Study

BUSINESS

vineyard vines is a chain of apparel and lifestyle stores headquartered in, Connecticut,

US. Started by two brothers selling ties on the beach in 1998, the company now has

35 stores, a signifi cant wholesale business and a growing online presence.

CHALLENGE

vineyard vines differentiates itself through its branding and customer experience.

Following rapid growth, the company’s legacy ecommerce solution could no longer

support innovation or an omni-channel strategy.

SOLUTION

The company has transformed its ecommerce capabilities by deploying a

cloud-based digital commerce platform from Demandware, and has been able

to launch new services and drive greater channel integration. For example, online

capabilities have been extended in-store with an ‘endless aisle’ initiative.

RESULTS

The retailer now has the ecommerce foundation it needs to drive growth. In the past

year the company has seen 58 percent growth online, and is planning a range of

innovations that will driver a better customer experience and greater competitive

advantage.

Industry segment

Apparel and lifestyle

URL

www.vineyardvines.com

Scale

35 stores and 500-plus employees

In partnership with:

vineyard vines boosts growth and revenue with new omni-channel strategy

2

BUSINESS

BRINGING MORE COLOR AND VITALITY TO CLOTHING AND LIFE

vineyard vines started with two brothers selling ties on the beach on Martha’s

Vineyard from the back of a Jeep in 1998. Just over a decade later, the brothers now

have 35 stores throughout the US and more than 500 employees.

Ties are still an important feature of the vineyard vines portfolio, with today’s range

including designs created especially for the National Hockey League, Major League

Baseball, the National Football League and a number of colleges and universities

in the US. The company’s product portfolio has also expanded to include men’s,

women’s and children’s clothing, accessories and lifestyle products.

As well as selling directly to consumers from its network of stores, vineyard vines has

a large wholesale business supplying the likes of Bloomingdale’s, Saks, Fifth Avenue

and Nordstrom. In 2010, vineyard vines launched the “Tied to a Cause” collection.

In the spirit of giving back, vineyard vines regularly partners with different charities to

create custom products and donates all proceeds back to the charity.

CHALLENGE

DIFFERENTIATING THE BRAND

From shirts and ties to handbags and iPhone cases, all vineyard vines’ products refl ect

the owners’ outlook on life with vibrant and colorful designs. Its company tagline –

“Every day should feel this good” along with colorful catalog and digital photography

reinforces its effort to bring comfort, fun, and style to the product offering.

This vitality also extends to the company’s brand and messaging, which need to be

consistent across all of its customer channels, including the Internet and direct-order

catalogues. vineyard vines shares the stories of friends, family and customers through

a series of catalog and online profi les, showing how these individuals make vineyard

vines a part of their lifestyle.

While its branding is a key differentiator, the company recognized that to compete

with the larger retailers, it also needed to differentiate through quality of service.

Abu Bakar, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Offi cer at vineyard

vines, comments: “Product and price are no longer the only differentiators in

the retail market. In order to remain competitive, we need to offer our customers

an innovative, seamless and satisfying experience whether they are in-store,

online or ordering from our catalogue. This enables us to build strong customer

relationships and loyalty.”

vineyard vines’ previous ecommerce platform was no longer able to keep up with the

company’s rapid growth, and had become complex and time-consuming to manage.

Merchandising, changing navigation and search engine optimisation (SEO) were

particularly diffi cult using the legacy solution.

“It was vital that we fi nd an alternative ecommerce solution that could grow with us.

We explored a number of approaches to this, including both licensed and software-

Case Study: vineyard vines

as-a-service models,” comments Bakar. “We came to the conclusion that we

would expand faster if we focused on growing the business and not on growing our

investment in IT infrastructure.”

SOLUTION

RISK-FREE ROLLOUT, RAPID RETURN

To achieve this focus, vineyard vines decided to deploy Demandware’s digital

commerce platform, as it offered the scalability it needed and the fl exibility to support

service enhancements.

The cloud-based platform and Demandware’s unique shared success model

appealed to the retailer due to the nature of the vendor-supplier relationship they

encouraged. “Demandware’s success depends upon our success, which means that

it has a vested interest in helping us achieve our goals,” comments Bakar.

vineyard vines worked with Demandware’s partner, Lyons Consulting Group (lyonscg),

to design and integrate the website. David Barr, Executive Vice President at lyonscg,

comments: “We were thrilled to collaborate with vineyard vines and Demandware on

the implementation of the new site. The results speak for themselves with strong sales

performance and an award-winning design. The site is a great example of following

core ecommerce best practices to achieve fantastic results.”

The website was awarded best-in-class for design in both retail and fashion

categories in the 2012 Interactive Media Awards™.

Six months after signing the contract in October 2011, the new site went live.

“Typically platform changes of this magnitude can cause problems, but with the

Demandware platform we have been running without any major hiccups from day

one,” adds Bakar.

vineyard vines’ new website offers a wider selection of products, improved search

functionality and fl exibility in product categorization. It also enables customer review

ratings, which are expressed using the company’s whale motif. The company is very

active on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, which currently help drive 10 percent of

traffi c to the website. vineyard vine’s Facebook page, which is integrated with the

eCommerce site, has more than 370,000 fans, and the company connects with

more than 51,000 followers on Twitter, supporting its focus on personalization by

including links to customer stories and photos.

The new ecommerce platform also provides vineyard vines’ staff with additional

features, and will be key to driving the company’s onmi-channel strategy. For

example, the retailer has launched an ‘endless aisle’ initiative, which enables store

associates to order new stock online.

“It no longer matters whether a store is closed or not – we can provide our customers

with access to our products every minute of every day and through every channel and

device,” adds Bakar. The ship-from-store initiative now sends 7 to 10 percent of daily

demand from the web to stores.

Case Study: vineyard vines

THE BOTTOM LINE

> Rapid implementation

> Faster growth

> Better customer experience

> Stronger channel integration

> Deeper trending data

> Greater innovation and competitive advantage

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“It took just eight weeks to roll out the endless aisle initiative, which will increase both

sales and customer satisfaction by ensuring that we have the right stock levels to

meet local needs,” comments Bakar.

RESULTS

DRIVING INNOVATION AND PROFITABLE GROWTH

vineyard vines can now pursue its ambitious plans for the future both in the US and

beyond. The retailer is now focused on delivering its omni-channel strategy for this

year and 2014, including a number of exciting initiatives such as:

• Customer personalization • International shipping

• Live chat • Mobile shopping capabilities

• Additional payment options • Greater social media integration

The company will be able to prioritize its investment in these and other innovations by

analyzing historical customer shopping data.

Regular omni-channel strategy workshops with Demandware have helped the

company defi ne a roadmap that takes advantage of all available channels to

encourage greater growth. “Delivering new and enhanced capabilities enriches

the customer experience and helps us stay ahead of the competition,” comments

Bakar. “Demandware plays a key role in the innovation process and enables us to

continuously improve our ecommerce offerings.”

Demandware’s platform has transformed much more than just the customer

experience; it has also enabled vineyard vines to unlock new go-to-market

opportunities. With optimized performance and the ability to take advantage of

new opportunities, vineyard vines is able to successfully grow and evolve its business.

ABOUT DEMANDWARE

Demandware, a leader in digital commerce, enables the world’s premier retailers to

move faster and grow faster in the changing face of retail. Demandware’s enterprise

cloud platform minimizes the costs and complexities of running global, omni-channel

commerce operations, and empowers retailers to respond with speed and agility to

new market opportunities and continually evolving consumer expectations.

ABOUT LYONS CONSULTING GROUP

Lyons Consulting Group is the premier digital agency specializing in strategy, ux/

design, development and ongoing support. Its diverse team of experts has decades

of experience in retail strategy, graphic design, platform customisation, development,

backend integration, quality assurance and support.

“We can now provide our customers with access to our products every minute of every day and through every channel and device.”

–Abu Bakar

EVP and CIO,

vineyard vines

Demandware, Inc.

5 Wall Street Burlington, MA 01803 +1 (781) 425 1400 demandware.com

info@demandware.com

© 2013 Demandware, Inc. This document contains archival information which should not be considered current and may no longer be accurate. Approved for unlimited distribution.