When PVH wanted to improve the online experience it offers its customers, the global fashion giant turned to management consulting firm SparkOptimus for guidance.
PVH is one of the world’s largest fashion companies with operations in more than 40 countries and is best known for its iconic brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. However, as the trend towards digitization continues to sweep every industry and the rise of e-commerce continues at its pace, even the world’s largest companies must adapt their products.
PVH’s ambition was to triple its European e-commerce business by 2025, transforming it from a transaction-driven fashion wholesaler into a consumer-driven multi-channel fashion player.
To realize this ambition, the company decided it needed to connect with consumers in the moment. In other words, we decided that we needed to be able to serve consumers in real time based on their individual needs. For example, you can get real-time visibility into the status of deliveries and payments, or quickly provide appropriate customer support in the event of an incident.
PVH worked with SparkOptimus experts to develop a holistic consumer data strategy and translate this strategy into a process, governance, and data management blueprint. The fashion retailer then worked with consultants to implement new foundations and ways of working.
Jesper Waerum, Executive Vice President of Omnichannel at PVH, said of the work SparkOptimus enabled: They are pragmatic and result-oriented, and know how to define paths, get things done, and break down organizational silos to bring an inspiring vision to life. ”
3 step process
SparkOptimus worked with PVH to begin the transformation by detailing what the fashion company’s consumers really need and how to activate them in the “moment”. A workshop was held with approximately 30 participants from various business teams to find ideas on how to better serve PVH’s consumers.
SparkOptimus has shaped the overall journey towards PVH’s ultimate ambition to become a consumer-driven fashion player.
The consulting firm then designed the technology and data infrastructure needed to enable real-time data collection and streaming. As we begin the subsequent “build” phase, SparkOptimus will deploy a multidisciplinary way of working across technology, analytics, and business departments through a structured operational heartbeat and agile work by our development teams. bottom.
In parallel, consultants detailed use cases prioritized from the outset with business owners by specifying success metrics.
Finally, the experts made a full handover to the PVH team, allowing them to carry out the rest of the change program independently. This included starting to implement the first use cases. After that, I started coaching the team instead of handling things directly.
Elsewhere, SparkOptimus has also defined internal teams and functions required for the short, medium and long term, including short-term job descriptions, to help complete the handover.
PVH’s ultimate goal of tripling its European e-commerce business is still two years away. However, the company has now taken a very clear view of its goals and, at the time of writing, is on target to achieve them.
With the data foundation in place, PVH can connect over a dozen different data sources and destinations to empower consumers in real time. This first pilot use case was launched in his three European countries with promising results.
Meanwhile, PVH now has a structured cross-functional testing and learning methodology that works across technical, analytical, business, legal, security, and data governance, with an ambitious number of active use cases. can be scaled up to activate consumers. Improving customer experience and creating value for PVH in that moment.
Founded in 2010, SparkOptimus was started by a duo of former McKinsey & Company consultants. Since then, the company has grown into an award-winning digital strategy consulting firm with nearly 100 professionals.
