A historic Australian label has taken the bull by the horns and linked with the country's largest annual event to debut a dynamic retail concept.
Melbourne-based knitwear brand Toorallie, established in 1991, produces a diverse range of premium merino wool content apparel, and has confirmed it will be one of a handful of fashion labels exhibiting at the Royal Easter Show this year.
The event, which runs from March 21 to April 3, is the largest annual event in Australia and will see Toorallie showcase its wares via a pop-up shop which doubles as an online virtual store.
The mobile Toorallie store is one of the first such virtual store wardrobing outlets to appear in Australia and operates as a promotional opportunity which also generates direct sales as a legitimate shop.
Commenting on the pop-up, Toorallie director Steve Smith said this is the first time in 22 years exhibiting at the Royal Easter Show that Toorallie has trialled this techonology.
“Toorallie has been exhibiting at the Royal Easter Show consecutively for the past 22 years, as it enables us to promote the brand to a broad section of the community at the one event,” he said.
“However, the online sales revolution is here now and it’s time to do things differently to adapt to the new challenges of online marketing. With online sales being the high growth area of our business we needed to employ new initiatives to promote Toorallie.com.au.
“No longer are we I willing to simply follow the rest of the market – we’re prepared to step outside the box and attempt new initiatives to get new results. This will be one of the first concept stores of its type ever attempted with direct integration to a web site.”
The Toorallie online wardrobing initiative operates by allowing customers browse sample stock displayed in the stand and try on garments from the collection.
Once the customer has made a selection the sale is processed at the stand and then via the web site Toorallie.com.au using one of the two online computers which replace cash registers and EFT terminals.
Staff assist and guide the customer through the process and the customer then has their receipt emailed to them automatically. The order is then received at the Toorallie warehouse for immediate dispatch and delivered with free postage within 24 hours.
During the process Toorallie staff also offer customers the opportunity to subscribe to the brand's email campaigns to allow for marketing activities after the show.
“The guaranteed availability of online stock provides the customer an easy shopping experience without having to carry their purchase around the show for the rest of the day; and the customer is now familiar and satisfied with the online experience, so they can continue to shop online anytime,” Smith said.
“The primary objective is to drive more business onto our web site where we can provide consistent premium customer service and increase their potential purchasing frequency. Some customers will be Toorallie customers that only purchase when we appear in person if we can kick this mentality by online conversion we will be successful.
“We only want to change how we service our existing target market to become more efficient and increase their opportunities to purchase.”
Going forward, Smith revealed the brand also plans to expand its existing collection of pure Merino wool products and is also looking towards foreign markets. A flagship store in Melbourne is also in the pipeline.