City Beach announces digital overhaul

Fashion retailer City Beach has announced an overhaul of its information and digital systems in an attempt to improve both in-store and online customer experience.

City Beach CEO Anita Dorwald said the decision would see the company initially focus on changes to point of sales and CRM systems ahead of major changes to back office systems.

“This represented the single greatest investment in technology in the last ten years – so there was a high level of nervousness.”

Dorwald said there was a greater need for the customer to be "front and centre" and that the company's continued success would come as a result of understanding buying patterns and experiences.

“We want to understand the customer journey and achieve a single view of the customer, to be able to interface with more agility around promotions and have an opportunity around loyalty programmes.

"That was what drove the decision to go front-to-back rather than back-to-front.”

City Beach also rolled out a customer insights strategy earlier this year.

The implementation of the system allowed City Beach to collect insights about its customers and refine its communications to be more customer focused.

With front facing systems now operational and point of sale systems almost completely intergrated, the company will now focus solely on developing its back office strategies.

Dorwald acknowledged that while there would certainly be challenges ahead, the company had a clear vision on what needed to be done to remain relevant in a shifting retail landscape.

“Our vision is a blend of continued growth and survival, and while the latter may come as a surprise we have seen the demise of many brands around us in recent years.

"We cannot afford to rest on our laurels or past successes. To trade on brand equity we need to maintain relevance now and in the future.”