Maximising the moment: Excelling in e-commerce

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In the new series of Vogue Business master class, in partnership with BigCommerce, we explore the theme ‘maximising the moment: excelling in e-commerce’. This looks at how brands can optimise their digital commerce strategies to take advantage of key moments in the retail calendar and maximise impact, as well as checking in on the progress already made as we head into the second half of the decade. For the first episode, Vogue Business head of advisory Anusha Couttigane was joined by Miguel Almeida, president of digital and customer experience at Nordstrom, to discuss the measures the business is putting in place to future-proof its strategy.

The conversation began with Almeida describing his start at the company: “My first day at Nordstrom was the first day of the pandemic, 9 March 2020. Everyone was at home… I saw digital and e-commerce players really focus on what I’m calling elements of transactional excellence,” says Almeida. He chiefly highlights how supply chains were interrupted — many brands had their inventory trapped in stores. Almeida believes this experience reinforced the importance of online and offline integration for retailers.

Thinking about the pivot that Nordstrom — and many others — are experiencing, Almeida says that they are now moving beyond the focus of transactional excellence, as basics like total online catalogues and fulfilment have already been achieved. Almeida describes the ambition as creating the “Spotify of fashion… bringing the thrill of discovery, letting customers navigate and immerse themselves in the brands that we carry”. This also means providing new digital touchpoints for customers to connect with stylists; and advisors to aid that discovery.

That noted, there are already technologies on Nordstorm’s wishlist, like replicating an AI-infused stylist through digital touchpoints. Augmented reality is another tool that the brand is looking to tap, in hope to enrich the discovery experience and improve shoppers’ pre-purchase confidence via boosting the accuracy of product representation on screen.

Thinking about the role of mobile technology, he says: “Where we can differentiate is for our customers who have our app and shop more frequently with us, they will see the content and opportunity to buy directly from us, but also we want to make sure that there is an element of value connecting the digital and physical experience.” He gives the example of using the app to improve shop navigation and connect customers to in-store services.

Looking ahead to critical activation moments, Almeida discusses the importance of the Nordstrom anniversary, typically celebrated in the summer. This is a peak sales moment for Nordstrom, where it offers loyal customers discounts on new, fresh merchandise that will be part of the fall collection. This period drives its highest volume of transactions per second and biggest demand days online — even exceeding Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

As we head into the second half of the decade, Almeida believes we are about to enter an “unprecedented period of technology innovation”. Possibly bigger than when the iPhone was launched. But it comes with a caveat: “Going into a world where everything is AI powered and we’re just talking to machines alone? I don’t think it’s going to be the future where we’re going to see the most success for retailers and brands. For us, it’s how do we think about AI not as artificial intelligence, but as ‘augmented intelligence’… and how we can add a human movement to it and connect those two dimensions in something that feels extremely special and unique as we go forward.”

In the second episode, Anusha is joined by Brent Bellm, CEO of BigCommerce. Looking at best practices from fashion brands, Bellm divides them into two categories. The first being brands that are design and user-experience focused: “They’re trying to create user experiences that are not templatised. The most advanced way to do that from a technology standpoint is called composable — or headless — e-commerce.” This means brands control their front-end experience using best-of-breed technologies, whether that’s a CMS or a third-party search and merchandising platform that is independent from the e-commerce platform. He cites brands like Ted Baker and Harvey Nichols that have worked with BigCommerce in this agile way to perfect their experiences.

“The second category is those brands and retailers who say ‘I need something simpler; I need it to be lower cost but I still need it to be nimble’.” This means managing the entire user experience within the e-commerce platform. Brands in the US, such as Francesca’s and Coldwater Creek, excel in this approach, as does Bigcommerce client Birdsnest in Australia, which won online retailer of the year at the Online Retail Industry Awards in 2023.

There are four key changes that BigCommerce will be prioritising over the second half of the decade. One is around enabling brands to optimise DTC sites; the second is maximising the traffic they get from other sources, such as search engines, social networks, display ads and affiliates; the third is creating the conditions for success in marketplaces; and finally connecting seamlessly with offline stores via methods like click and collect or same-day delivery.

As for what’s next for BigCommerce, Bellm speaks enthusiastically about the launch of its new reference storefront architecture “Catalyst”. Within this, tools like Makeswift enable marketing teams to easily manage storefronts and content pages without the need for developer support. “You can even design your mobile experience differently from your website, it’s not just responsive design. It’s a no-code solution that gives marketing and e-commerce teams much more control over the experience, with different layers of complexity to meet different needs. With a multitude of built-in tools, it will represent a tech stack candy shop for marketers.”

The final episode featured Dr Barbara Sturm, the founder of the eponymous skincare label. Sturm begins by describing how she applied her background in medicine to developing new skincare solutions for herself, using the same anti-inflammatory proteins found in her own blood to develop a radical new range of face creams.

She then speaks about the role of virtual consultations to connect with customers and estheticians to educate them about ingredient science and new products. This is a service feature the brand ramped up during the pandemic. To date, the brand has conducted over 9,000 virtual consultations. Additionally, as the founder and face of the brand, Sturm herself features strongly in a lot of the social content featured on platforms like Instagram, giving fans and followers direct access to her story and expertise in a more intimate format. She emphasises the importance of “Being there for a community we built around the brand”, adding “My products are not very cheap, but everything else in the brand is for free. You can learn as much as you want, you can attend skin schools, you can attend master classes.” She also added that the audience has grown with the help of celebrity master classes featuring Hailey Bieber and Emma Roberts.

As we enter the second half of the decade, Sturm says the brand will be investing in technology tools that accelerate convenient access to expert advice from doctors, dermatologists and skincare specialists, as well as skincare diagnostics to create a more personalised service for customers in the future.

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