Case Study

BUSINESS

Reitmans is an apparel retailer operating 900-plus stores and six banners, including

Reitmans, Penningtons, Addition Elle, RW&CO., Smart Set and Thyme Maternity.

It is one of Canada’s largest publicly-owned retail companies with more than

10,000 employees.

CHALLENGE

To deliver a 360-degree shopping experience to customers, Reitmans needed a

flexible, scalable and reliable ecommerce platform. It was vital that the platform

could support peaks in customer demand and multiple brands.

SOLUTION

In the 12 months ending October 2012, the retailer developed five major ecommerce

sites using the Demandware Commerce platform. The solution is integrated with

back-office systems and enables Reitmans to add new online features that enrich

the customer experience.

RESULTS

Reitmans has unlocked a new revenue stream without cannibalizing in-store sales.

The company’s ecommerce sites help increase customer store visits and loyalty and

provide a foundation for future innovation and growth.

Industry segment

Apparel

URL

www.reitmans.com

www.additionelle.com

www.penningtons.com

www.rw-co.com

Scale

900-plus stores

Brooks Runs Faster with Demandware

Reitmans provides a richer shopping experience with Demandware

In partnership with:

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BUSINESS

AN 80-YEAR PEDIGREE IN APPAREL RETAIL

Reitmans has been selling clothing for more than 80 years. Its retail roots stretch

back to 1926 and a family-owned department store in Montreal.

The company has since expanded significantly to include a number of other brands,

such as Smart Set, RW&CO., Penningtons, Addition Elle and Thyme Maternity, and

more than 900 stores.

Reitmans is now one of Canada’s largest publicly-owned retail companies, with

more than 10,000 employees across the country.

CHALLENGE

DRIVING MORE IN-STORE BUSINESS VIA ECOMMERCE

For Reitmans, its ecommerce operation

is intrinsically linked to the company’s

physical stores. As Diane Randolph, CIO

at Reitmans, explains: “We want our online

services to complement, not conflict,

with those offered in-store, and to deliver

a 360-degree shopping experience to

customers.”

Reitmans has integrated the ecommerce

platform with its customer relationship

management, enterprise resource planning

and order management systems.

With six different divisions, each with

distinct branding and product catalogues,

Reitmans needed to establish individual

sites rather than a single ecommerce

portal. “Each brand has a different audience,

so we couldn’t take a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to the sites,’ adds Randolph.

“Our priority for 2013 is to ensure that all divisions have online shopping capabilities,”

comments Randolph. “Ecommerce will be key to growing our top line in the future.

We want to establish a ‘buy from anywhere, fulfill from anywhere’ retail operation.”

SOLUTION

RAPID ROLL-OUT OF NEW SITES AND ONLINE FEATURES

To support its ecommerce ambitions across multiple divisions, Reitmans needed a

flexible and stable front-end platform that can support peaks in customer demand.

“Since launching our ecommerce offerings, we have experienced double digit growth year-on-year in terms of online sales.”

–Diane Randolph

CIO

Reitmans

Case Study: Reitmans

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The retailer’s initial entry into the ecommerce arena in late 2007 had been held back

by a lack of flexibility in the former storefront solution. With its flagship brand Reitmans

ready to join the online shopping revolution in 2010, the company needed to move in

a different direction and find a more robust and scalable ecommerce platform.

Reitmans was keen to minimize any additional cost and complexity, which made

Demandware’s cloud-based model an ideal fit with its objectives.

Jaylone Lee, Senior Project Manager at Reitmans, comments: “The ecommerce

marketplace is changing rapidly; we need to ensure we embrace the right trends

and technologies for our business. Demandware and its partners provide us with

both the insight and tools we need to maximize the potential for ecommerce across

our brands.”

Within eight months of selecting the Demandware solution, Reitmans had completed

all the business and IT phases of the project and launched its first two web sites on

the new platform: reitmans.com in English and French.

The company has since migrated three brands onto the Demandware platform

(Penningtons, Addition Elle and RW-CO), completed a re-design of the reitmans.com

site and also completed the build for two additional brands slated for launch in 2013.

To deliver a ‘360-degree’ shopping experience, Reitmans has integrated the

ecommerce platform with its customer relationship management, enterprise resource

planning and order management systems. A ship-to-store option is being introduced

in 2013.

RESULTS

MORE CUSTOMERS, MORE SALES

Reitmans has been able to achieve its objective of launching multiple ecommerce

sites in a shorter timeframe and with lower development costs. The internal teams

have increased capacity to maintain and build new sites while reducing their

dependence on third-party partners.

“The Demandware platform reduces time to market for new

sites and upgrades. It enables us to reuse code and execute

more development in-house,” confirms Lee. “We effectively

completed five major site builds in the space of 12 months,

which was well ahead of our expectations.”

By enabling greater velocity throughout the ecommerce

deployment cycle, Reitmans has been able to take advantage

of new revenue streams more quickly. As Randolph confirms:

“Since launching our ecommerce offerings, every brand that

has launched a transactional site has experienced double digit

growth year-on-year in terms of online sales.”

The ecommerce sites also help to increase in-store business

by providing personalized shopping features. For example,

“The Demandware platform reduces time to market. It enables us to reuse code and execute more development in-house.”

–Jaylone Lee

Senior Project Manager

Reitmans

Case Study: Reitmans

Reitmans has introduced an online ‘wish list’ that customers can print out and take to

a store to view different products in person.

“Through ecommerce, we can provide a richer shopping experience, which will

increase customer loyalty and spend,” comments Randolph. “With a stable and

scalable platform in place, we can maximize opportunities for innovation and growth

that will drive greater market share.”

* Reitmans 2012 Annual Report

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.

THE BOTTOM LINE

> Stronger revenue generation and growth opportunities

> More customer visits to stores

> Faster time-to-market for new online features

> Lower ecommerce development and implementation costs

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

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