Redcats Group spurred on by Internet

The 17 brands of the Redcats Group are winning new customers and a renewing their collections at a faster rate, spurred on by Internet.

Internet represents a real opportunity for the Redcats Group, which profits by making over 30% of its turn-over on line. From an early start - laredoute.fr has just celebrated its 10th birthday – with the advantage of being the first to arrive on the scene, Redcats Group has won the same leading position on line that it already had in mail order. For Thierry Falque-Pierrotin, this success is due to two main factors: “the relation of trust which the brands have built up with their customers and the streamlining of the industrial processes of distance selling which they have achieved”. Redcats Group was also able to capitalise on the international experience of its brands, share the best practices and mobilize its teams to adapt to this profound cultural change.
Today, the strategy is clearly mapped out: it involves bringing about the short order transformation of a group of national home shopping companies into a group of clearly positioned international brands, whose multi-channel distribution is driven by the web. "Multi-channel", because it has been shown that the customers who use the Group's catalogues, shops and websites also happen to be the most regular and the biggest spenders. "Distribution driven by the web", because Internet not only reaches those more urban and "high end" customers who until recently did not distance shop, but it also facilitates the presentation of new collections with a renewal rate close to that of the shops. It is what is known as “fast fashion”. Put simply, fashion which is permanently abreast of the latest trends, designed, made up and put on sale to short deadlines. In the USA, Metrostyle's teams designed their Gaucho pants (cropped trousers), made and put them on sale on line in barely two months. With handsome sales results. Redcats Nordic launches two new ladies fashion products a week on Internet. On LaRedoute.fr, the "fashion minute" shop currently puts 25 to 30 new items on line every two weeks. These products have a limited run and are therefore rarer and a bit more expensive. A price strategy which doesn't seems to put off the fashionistas. This way has the side benefit of helping isolate those shapes and new materials which will boost long term creation and La Redoute's international product range.