Chris Poel, Head of Development at River Island, is a speaker at IRX @ DTX+UCX. He is part of a panel session entitled Building a team and culture to manage the transition to a modern commerce architecture. Here, he shares how the technical team is evolving and reveals some new in-store initiatives.

New ways of working

“We’re currently reshaping our tech team – of over 300 people - to best fit the needs of the business.

Our digital and back end teams have traditionally always operated separately – we're now in the process of aligning them better. Each of the core business departments – logistics, finance etc – now enjoy close alignment with one of the tech teams affording each department a single point of contact.

This arrangement also fosters team building and knowledge sharing across the company. As a result of these blended teams, our tech experts are developing a degree of autonomy and we’re empowering them to make and deliver on core decisions.

For the launch of IRX @ DTX + UCX we are delighted to showcase a packed 2-day conference, practical workshop sessions, exclusive roundtables, 1-2-1 meetings, a co-location with DTX and UCX, and countless opportunities for networking. Register Now > https://t.co/GoXFDoHuWo pic.twitter.com/qX6BsDcn49
— IRX @ DTX + UCX (@etailexpo) September 20, 2022

Trialling new tech in-store

We’re in the process of trialling some exciting technology in-store.

This includes introducing tablets in changing rooms through which the customer can request different sizes of the item they have chosen. Not only is this a useful customer experience, it also delivers efficiencies for colleagues in-store.

The customer no longer needs to bring in multiple sizes of one item of clothing into the changing room which means there’s less stock for staff to return to the rails. The tablets also pull through the ‘you may also like’ feature from our website, suggesting complementary items the customer can purchase there and then in-store.

We’re also planning to trial self-service in store, and capturing real time EPC information at PoS. Although few fashion retailers currently offer self-service, the customer has become accustomed to this facility, particularly in supermarkets. Again, there are multiple benefits for our organisation.

The self-service combined with our swapping out all our tags with RFIDs will free up staff to support customers on the shop floor, and also allow them to dedicate the time needed to replenish the front of house from the stock room.

Omnichannel experience

Ultimately, we want to give our customers a unified experience across all platforms – in store, app and online.

This seamless, omnichannel experience will be driven by customer expectations, allowing them to connect with us on their own terms and time. As part of this unified experience, we plan to up the ante on personalisation, delivering personalised, responsive engagements along the way.

We want to give our customers the right offers at the right time, keeping one step ahead.”

IRX @ DTX+UCX takes place on 12th and 13th October at ExCeL London. Register - for free - here.

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