In the day and age of digital, an excellent customer experience online is essential. But shifting to a digital experience strategy means different things for different organizations. Our client JOANN Stores is a noteworthy example of a retailer utilizing new technologies to improve the overall customer experience.
Subject matter experts from the Perficient Digital Commerce practice were joined on stage at the 2019 IBM Think to discuss the work we’ve done and the benefits JOANN and its customers are seeing. Here’s a preview of those projects.
Improving Visibility Through Order Management
Before JOANN could extend an improved experience to its customers, it first had to improve its internal processes surrounding inventory. In a market traditionally rooted in brick-and-mortar stores, JOANN was having trouble connecting its in-store experience with the online experience. As a result, inventory visibility was poor across these different channels and JOANN was unable to meet its customers’ digital demands.
The Perficient Digital team worked to launch the IBM Sterling Order Management System (OMS) on a cloud-based environment to solve JOANN’s product information and order-management problems. The new system provides an up-to-date view of inventory, improves inventory tracking, and is integrated with the IBM Call Center for Commerce platform to give agents the view of inventory they need to provide excellent customer service.
A Seamless Experience Across Channels
With an improved view of inventory, JOANN’s in-store associates are better equipped to provide an elevated experience. Fabric is one of the largest sections in JOANN’s inventory, and the fact that it is sold by the yard made it especially difficult for JOANN to maintain an updated inventory across its stores and warehouses. With the new OMS in place, store associates can now easily locate additional stock when the fabric a customer wants is out-of-stock or low in quantity at that particular store.
JOANN also established an omnichannel buying experience for their customers thanks to improved inventory tracking. Customers now have the ability to purchase orders online and ship to local stores for pick-up, or purchase products in-store that aren’t in stock at that location and have them shipped to their homes. A variety of shipping options means customers have greater access to products that aren’t locally available. The system was also designed to be scalable and handle increased order volume during peak shopping seasons. As a result, JOANN’s new OMS platform handled the 2018 Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days with great success.
“JOANN had one of our largest selling Black Friday weeks, and our DotCom site now has a new top-selling day of all time. This was only achieved by the hard work that was done getting the OMS ready to handle our volume. The performance team really pushed to make sure that we were ready.”
David Leonard, Director of Application Development, JOANN Fabrics & Crafts
Adding a Personal Touch
In addition, by using the OMS to establish a single source of truth, JOANN has been able to expand their offerings to include personalized services such as the MyFabric application, which was recently featured in an article by Internet Retailer. Customers who visit the JOANN website can use the MyFabric application to design custom fabrics. Shoppers can choose from 8,000 designs and customize their orders by fabric, color, size, and pattern. Once they’ve finalized their selections, customers can add their creation to their cart and are directed back to the JOANN site where they can complete the order. Thanks to an integration we created with the WeaveUp platform, those custom orders are processed through the new OMS, just like every other order. By implementing new technology to improve processes, JOANN has been able to provide an elevated customer experience and transform their view of inventory.
