North Face 2011 Annual Report Download - page 14

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The first freestanding, owned Ella Moss®
retail store opened in Newport Beach,
California’s Fashion Island shopping center.
The 1,400-square-foot store features a
whimsical atmosphere designed to feel
like a girl’s dream closet, and gives
consumers the opportunity to shop all of
the brand’s feminine, playful collections:
Ella Moss, Ella Moss Girl and Little Ella.
e increase in VF’s
e-commerce revenues
in , excluding
Timberland
The Splendid ® brand’s “Crafting Community” pop-up
experience brought the everyday joy of handmade
crafts to new store openings in California and the
southwest U.S. At this “hands-on” event, consumers
get to experience the brand through crafting
workshops that use its famously soft fabrics to
create colorful bracelets, belts, necklaces, custom
scarves and even gardens.
e are making
signicant invest-
ments to become
leaders in connecting
our brands to their
consumers through
communications and commerce, both online and
in our owned stores,” says Gannaway. “e single
most important development impacting our brands’
direct-to-consumer business is the emergence of
the digital space and its impact on how consumers
connect with retailers, brands and each other.”
at video seamlessly blending storytelling
with sales is part of what e North Face calls
its “Digital Ecosystem,” a content distribution
platform that automatically pushes content out
to multiple media sources. You can see that ultra-
runners video (and countless others) on the brand’s
website, in a retail store, on a CRM e-mail, at a
dealer website, on an athlete’s personal blog, on
a social network such as Facebook ® or Twitter®,
or even through one of the brand’s apps. “We are
building towards true omni-channel connectivity,”
says Gannaway. “We’re putting consumers in the
center and making it easy for them to shop our
brands through any media they choose.” e
diversity of media also encourages a good balance
between organic content created by athletes and
product innovation messages created by the
brand itself. Other VF brands are applying this
consumer-centric approach in dierent ways. For
example, the Vans® brand takes a broader, more
decentralized approach built on its four cultural
pillars of art, music, action sports and street culture.
“We know that consumers want to interact with
the Vans® brand in a variety of dierent ways,”
says Steve Rendle, VF Vice President and Group
President—Outdoor & Action Sports Americas.
“Skateboarders want skateboarding. Punk rockers
want punk rock. Artists want art. We build for
each constituency, binding them all together under
a single umbrella of creative self-expression.” e
brand operates a network of  dierent websites,
and numerous other programs and events built
for specic activities and interests.
e strategy is working. All VF brands in North
America had strong, double-digit e-commerce
growth in , with the Nautica®,  For All
Mankind ®, Wrangler®, e North Face® and Vans®
brands performing exceptionally well. European
e-commerce sales grew by over  as regional
e-commerce rollouts for the Kipling®, Napapijri ®,
Eastpak®, e North Face ® and  for all Mankind ®
brands continued. e rst website for the Vans®
brand in Asia was launched in . While
still a small percentage of VF’s total revenues,
e-commerce is VF’s fastest growing channel, and
Gannaway believes there’s much more to come,
given the current momentum, additional regional
rollouts and increased knowledge-sharing among
the brands. “We share our expertise across brands
and geographies through our Direct-to-Consumer
Councils that identify and develop best practices
for adaptation by other brands,” says Gannaway.
“Each key region also has its own DTC Council,
which works with our DTC leadership team to
ensure best practice adaptation across regions and
a consistent approach to planning and reporting.”
 
—
Vice President—
VF Direct/
Customer Teams
We’re putting
consumers in
the center and
making it easy
for them to
shop our brands
through any
media they choose.
With the press of a button at its headquarters
in San Leandro, California, The North Face
can instantly share the best of its expedition
footage from around the globe with consumers
through a wide variety of digital touchpoints.
This centralized approach to content distribution
drives consistency in messaging to the global
regions, and allows the brand to link unique
content to product innovation messaging
as it hits thenorthface.com homepage, store
windows and traditional media outlets.
Twitter
Blogs
Facebook
Websites
Apps
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Retail E-mail
VF’s revenues from its
direct-to-consumer
businesses
e number of owned retail
stores, exceeding , for
the rst time in VF’s history
New stores
opened in 