Timberland focuses on online customer experience

Consolidating legacy apps

One of the reasons the company has found that hard to do so far is because of its multitude of legacy applications.

“We have lots of different archaic pieces of content on different sites, microsites and applications – all of which have been developed through the years, so it’s about bringing that back down to one central experience for our customers,” says Mahoney.

Potentially, suppliers like Demandware could consolidate some of these applications and Mahoney says the company has some really interesting systems for the store and the omni-channel area, where the supplier is making investments.

“They have their in-store system for taking orders on different devices," he says. "That’s interesting for us, but for a big organisation like VF, it’s trying to understand where that can fit in a bigger strategy for systems enhancements as well.”

Mahoney says the systems which are currently in place remain a challenge to what Timberland is trying to focus on at the moment – customer experience. But rather than looking only at large investments in technology, the company is looking at a range of agile systems which allow it to offer a seamless experience to customers.

Rather than a clunky experience while navigating a website, how can you present something to the customer that’s truly engaging and relevant to what they’re looking for?

Dan Mahoney, Timberland

“Behind the scenes there’s a lot of band aids working and potentially some investment to make things happen,” he says. “So our big focus now is trying to find the blend between the quick wins we just need to be getting on with and making longer-term investments.”

Competitive affiliate suppliers

The brand also supplies its shoes, apparel and outdoor wear to third parties including Office and Schuh in the UK, which can sometimes be seen as competitors to the Timberland website. 

Mahoney says he wants to deliver a unique customer experience online which will make visitors want to buy direct from Timberland, rather than buying the same item elsewhere.

“It’s difficult to use the term competitor,” he says. “Because they’re a business partner, not a competitor.”

But if Timberland can begin to engage with its customers on its own website, it can start to use data analytics to understand customer profiles.

“The biggest challenge is around data and trying to understand the bigger picture,” says Mahoney. “We’re trying to understand whether people are coming to our website to research a product and then going to Amazon to purchase it, and as a business do we think that’s a bad thing, or is it OK? But that’s so much to understand.”

At the beginning of this data journey, Mahoney says the company is only just starting to get a flavour of how to segment its products and customers to understand them better and learn what they’re buying and why.

Unlike Amazon or Schuh, Timberland’s website aims to not be price-centric or promotional-driven, meaning a lot of pressure on the brand to tell a story which could convert a visitor to a direct sale.

The affiliate partners also have different segments of the Timberland product range. “We’re trying to move to a point where within our own walls and our own shops we can cover everything, and customers can buy every Timberland product going,” explains Mahoney.

The company is also working on growing its e-commerce range of products to offer more than it can fit in a physical store. “That’s got a lot more interesting because you’re selling a story,” says Mahoney. “A customer can be asked if they like a product and then told it's available in four different colourways that aren’t in the store."

“It comes back down to content,” he says. “Rather than a clunky experience while navigating a website, how can you present something to the customer that’s truly engaging and relevant to what they’re looking for? There’s a lot of focus there, but we haven’t got the answer right yet.”

Improving Timberland's mobile offering

Improving its mobile offering is another key strategy in the near future for Timberland. When it launched its UK e-commerce site, it also launched a responsive mobile website. Mahoney says while the retailer is getting some results with the website, it still needs further attention.

“Responsive was a big step forward for Timberland, but responsive isn’t enough and we still need to understand what the right customer experience is for our mobile platform,” he says.

While responsive web is a good start for a company which is just diving into the world of mobile, Mahoney says it is looking towards HTML5 and how it can adapt its mobile site by switching on and off different content and merchandising depending on the application.

Timberland has some changes in the pipeline for before Christmas 2014, but Mahoney says he’s trying to think of mobile as an evolution rather than a project, and all aspects of the business should be thinking about mobile.

“The only person I see playing with mobile is the designer, but I want trading people and merchandising to see what experience is being delivered via mobile, because we’re not far away from having greater traffic from mobile devices than desktop devices,” he says.