Digital shopping with a personal touch

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, traffic to the website jumped as customers shifted to online shopping. But the website wasn’t equipped to handle the uptick. Customers had issues searching for products and, worse, with finalizing purchases at checkout. The company quickly fast-tracked a plan in its three-year digital transformation roadmap to re-platform its website — shortening the timeline from 12 – 14 months to six months.

Fortunately, the right technology was already in place. “We were able to spin up more containers to handle the data exchange between our on-premises and e-commerce systems,” says Warriner. “Without the performance and capabilities of IBM Cloud, we never would have been able to get there.”

That ability to pivot proved invaluable across every aspect of the business. When customers wanted more comfortable activewear for working from home, the company was able to expand its offerings to accommodate them. “Pre-COVID we weren’t looking to do that,” says Warriner. “Fortunately, due to the way our ecosystem was built — with microservices in containers and different endpoints — we were able to transition very quickly.”

The improvements in website performance were dramatic. “With our new e-commerce platform running microservices, we’re taking advantage of the best tools out there to speed up our website,” says Warriner. “I would say, without even batting an eye, that our new website is a hundred times faster than the old one.”

Searches now take microseconds and inventory information is available in near real time. “With IBM Event Streaming — the Apache Kafka event streaming platform — and IBM service bus, we can trigger any inventory updates in seconds,” says Warriner, “whether from in-store or online purchases or store-to-store transfers.”

The company sees many of the adjustments it’s made due to COVID-19 as having lasting impact. “The things we’ve undertaken — to be able to function remotely, sell to our clients online and have them pick up in the store — we don’t see those changing,” says Warriner. “The world is changing every five minutes — probably every five microseconds — and we need to keep up.”

Staying true to its customers in that changing world has remained at the heart of Harry Rosen’s digital transformation — and has required a willingness to rethink its business from the inside out. “We changed the dynamics of our warehouse and of our buying department. We broke things apart and repositioned people within the organization to support our vision. It’s a new future. A new landscape,” Warriner concludes.