Customer Acquisition: Quiksilver Goes International in Pursuit of New Customers
For cross-channel retailer Quiksilver, which designs, produces and distributes a mix of branded apparel, footwear, accessories and related products for outdoor sports lifestyle enthusiasts, the launch of 10 new e-commerce sites in Europe signaled the growth of the brand beyond its traditional markets of the United States and Australia. Consumers in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom — not exactly surfing hotbeds — now can purchase Quiksilver gear and apparel online.
Quiksilver launched its sites on Demandware's cloud-based e-commerce platform in July.
"Quiksilver had a very aggressive market expansion strategy and we needed a platform that would allow us to roll out multiple sites across geographies in a fast, efficient way," said Nicolas Foulet, senior vice president of digital at Quiksilver, in a Demandware press release. "Launching 10 sites in different geographies in a few months is a major accomplishment."
The sites themselves feature highly visual, interactive environments that display more than 3,000 products within the context of various outdoor sports. Videos, interactive lookbooks and sophisticated search provide site visitors with an immersive brand experience in surf, snow and skateboard universes that's intuitive and easy to navigate. The websites also incorporate community and social media aspects to keep board sports enthusiasts up to date and connected with athletes, events and the latest innovations. The sites are customized for each country with its own language and currency (euro for all except the U.K., which uses the British pound).
"Quiksilver is a pioneer and continuous innovator of the action sports lifestyle," said Andrew Gilboy, executive vice president, EMEA at Demandware, in the company's press release. "We look forward to supporting their ongoing growth initiatives."
Those initiatives appear to include launching even more international e-commerce sites, with Demandware a partner with Quiksilver to support further growth. One area of growth for Quiksilver appears to be in Brazil, as the retailer reported strong growth and solid profitability in the market in its recently completed second quarter.
