Apparel brand Vince has invested in revamping its ecommerce website to manage in-store and online inventory. Over the last two years, in-store shopping has declined, says Heather Wilberger, chief information officer.
“Our biggest challenge is absolutely effective inventory utilization,” Wilberger says.
Vince turned to NewStore, a cloud omnichannel software vendor. Over approximately the last 18 months, the retailer experienced a 7% increase in buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) orders. The retailer wants to offer customers an endless aisle shopping experience.
Heather Wilberger, chief information officer, Vince LLC
Before using the software, “we weren’t able to track an increase for BOPIS at all,” Wilberger says.
Vince can offer customers an endless aisle experience, Wilberger says. A shopper searching for a popular item online might be open to other colors — even if those colors are not available in stores. When shopping in store, sales associates can make suggestions. They can have those items shipped from the store that has them, Wilberger says.
Software allows for an endless aisle shopping experience
“It gives us an opportunity to sell to the customer or not lose the sale,” Wilberger says. “We can overnight it and have that plush funnel cashmere at the consumer’s door the next day.”
These abilities have been critical to Vince as the economy bends and turns, she says.
“We rise to what the consumer demand looks like for our products,” Wilberger says. “And warehouse space is expensive.”
Vince uses store fulfillment across its 66 physical locations. Vince’s average order value for ecommerce is 32% higher compared with in-store AOV.
On average, 40% of the retailer’s total orders ship from these locations. However, during busy periods, stores fulfill fewer orders, Wilberger says. This is particularly true during the holiday season spanning from November through December. In Q4 2022, Vince’s fulfillment rate dropped to 23%, Wilberger says.
“Foot traffic is much higher during these times, so associates do not have the bandwidth to pick, pack and ship orders from other [store] locations,” Wilberger says. “Their top priority is helping customers in store, which causes some store managers to turn off capability for a short period of time.”
Vince knows certain classic styles are the brand’s cornerstone, Wilberger says, adding that’s why it’s important to plan ahead. Vince stocks up on popular SKUs to ensure those items are available during surges in demand, she says.
During the winter months, Vince customers buy sweaters, Wilberger says. Knit and cashmere sweaters account for 20%-25% of Vince’s direct-to-consumer revenue, she says.
“We can understand that perhaps a store in the Los Angeles area has the cashmere funnel neck sweater in the color the shopper wanted,” she says. “We can ship it out of that store, which reduces some of our shipping costs because it’s a localized shipping event occurring.”
Toggling in-store order fulfillment on and off
Despite the popularity of BOPIS, it’s important to pull back when necessary. NewStore’s software allows the retailer to turn in-store fulfillment options on and off. This avoids tying up staff to fulfill orders from store during high demand periods, she says.
“We’ve pulled those levers during times of high demand, and it’s been received really well among our teams,” Wilberger says.
The holidays are a good example of “pulling the lever” on and off to keep staff free where needed, Wilberger says.
“We really have to keep our eyes on those levers to understand how we’re fulfilling orders,” Wilberger says. “We want to optimize sales in any way we can that also benefits the customer. The customers wants what they want. We want them to get it as soon as they can. Having that ability to toggle back and forth where our folks can fulfill orders from the store has been absolutely fantastic.”
Vince is No. 856 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest online retailers by web sales.
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