The North Face is committed to delivering excellence in e-commerce, with a digital strategy that puts the customer experience at the heart: from offering the best products to inspiring a global movement to be active in nature. To learn more about why The North Face’s e-commerce channel is so much more than just selling products online, FashionUnited spoke to Mark McKechnie, senior director of digital sales at the outdoor clothing brand.
What is your role at The North Face?
I am responsible for strategic development and revenue growth in e-commerce at The North Face. My responsibilities include digital marketing, merchandise replenishment, digital technology, customer satisfaction and user experience, operations and analytics.
Have you always worked in the digital field?
Yes, my entire career has been in some form of digital retail, always keeping an eye on Google Analytics! I am very interested in sports and nature and didn’t know what to do after university. So I applied for an e-commerce internship at an online sports and clothing retailer in London.
I figured I would meet at least a few people who loved skiing and the outdoors, and I quickly learned that being “customer-centric” was natural since I was the target customer. This shaped my career because I always wanted to work in consumer goods companies that sell a product that I love and would buy myself.
I’ve worked for agencies, at multi-brand online retailers and for brands. Before joining The North Face, I ran the e-commerce business for a premium sports nutrition company in the UK for five years. In my current role, I like how different brand ecommerce strategy is from retail ecommerce.
How would you rate The North Face’s digital IQ when you started in 2019?
Honestly, very high, and I was pleasantly surprised. I came from a smaller but very enterprising company and one can’t help but get the impression that a larger company isn’t as agile and forward-thinking, but I was wrong.
Since The North Face to VF Corporation owned, which also includes Timberland, Vans and others, our digital technology platform is centrally managed. As a result, digital innovations from one brand can quickly benefit another. The North Face also had a very clear brand and market strategy.
Has the pandemic changed your digital strategy?
No, not much – we’ve evolved in areas like omnichannel and inventory agility, but The North Face already had a strategy that prioritized digital direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, and the pandemic has made it possible made to speed up our plan.
At the heart of our digital strategy is having a point of difference on thenorthface.com with our wholesale digital partners to encourage consumers to shop directly on the brand site. We achieve this by offering our widest range of products, including collaborations and the production of exclusive content. The website is the best place to learn about the brand, compare products and give our customers the option to talk to us directly via live chat.
One area that was changing quickly was the role of our own retail stores as demand suddenly shifted online. This meant we had to be flexible with our stock, which is located across Europe, to be able to use it online. We also leveraged our omnichannel capabilities such as buy-online-ship-from-store, reserve online and reserve-online-buy-in-store, and Zalando Connected Retail .
Overall, the pandemic has changed the way we think about our retail operations. The North Face has integrated the DTC business (e-commerce and B&M stores) to offer customers convenience above all else.
What do you mean that the digital strategy for brand ecommerce is different than for retail ecommerce?
A third party online retailer or marketplace can combine the strengths of multiple brands and create a strong value positioning, such as: B. fast delivery, cheap prices or competent customer service to promote sales growth. For a branded ecommerce channel, success comes with building a strong brand identity by focusing on storytelling and content on site, avoiding product discounts, ensuring the right balance between performance marketing and brand marketing, and via the Turnover as a KPI looks out.
What are you looking forward to in the digital world?
In e-commerce, there are still many barriers to buying online, such as B. the fact that customers prefer to touch/try on the products, want the product immediately or prefer personal advice. Online is constantly evolving to break down these barriers, e.g. through super-fast delivery or live chat capabilities, and I look forward to seeing this evolution continue by connecting online and offline, whether through omnichannel services or augmented reality.
I also think that as privacy laws evolve to protect individuals and their personal information, the industry will need to rethink some processes, which will benefit brands that already have high standards. This will lead to innovations in personalizing customer experiences that leverage technology while complying with privacy regulations.
What do you think is special about The North Face?
The North Face is a people- and brand-centric company through and through. I love that everyone who works here believes in providing great gear for our athletes to inspire people to exercise outdoors and protect the planet. I’m very passionate about sports and it’s great to be around people who go skiing and running in the mountains every weekend (or even in the evenings!). But I’ve also met so many people who live the brand’s values in different ways outside of sport, which is very inspiring. Also, The North Face EMEA headquarters is in Ticino, Switzerland, which I think is one of the most beautiful places in Europe. If you like mountains, this is the place for you.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to follow a similar career path?
My job requires very general skills. It includes elements of analytics, brand, marketing, operations and technology, so there are many avenues to advance in the digital space as the skills are highly transferrable.
I would advise you to focus on working in digital companies or sectors that you believe in or that interest you, be it the product they sell or the service they provide. You will then find a culture and people who are a better fit for you and you will be successful there.
More information about VF Corporation can be found here: Employer branding page