E-commerce platform deal extension confirms fashion retailerÂ’s plans to expand internationally online

E-commerce platform deal extension confirms fashion retailer’s plans to expand internationally online

Aurora Fashions and Karen Millen has signed a new five-year deal with BT’s specialist retail e-commerce division, BT Fresca.

The contract will support Aurora and Karen Millen’s e-commerce plans to grow its brands and increase sales outside the UK, initially focusing on expansion in Europe and Australia.

BT Fresca has provided websites based on its FrescaCommerce platform for Karen Millen, Oasis, Warehouse and Coast for five years in the UK. Recently, all the sites were optimised for mobile commerce.

Building out global presence

Aurora Fashions and Karen Millen have a strong national and international presence operating in 49 markets worldwide.

Ish Patel, group strategic development director at Aurora Fashions, explained that the deal extension was not a given. “Through a formal tender process we reviewed the leading players in the market,” he said. “We selected BT Fresca on their proven record of delivery and support, and a shared vision of priorities for the next phase of growth within this channel. We’re confident of increasing our online sales around the world with BT’s help.”

Hash Ladha, Aurora’s group multichannel director, added: “We are very impressed by the current FrescaCommerce platform and BT’s development plans for the future. These will help underpin our own plans for growth in Europe, Asia-Pacific and beyond.”

Global coverage, local capabilities

Under the contract terms, BT Fresca will provide local language websites that support local fulfilment, promotions, payment and customer service tailored for each specific country, starting with Germany and Australia. The websites will also support local payment types and the capacity to manage fulfilment from a local distribution centre.

BT Fresca said it would ensure Aurora and Karen Millen’s e-commerce websites perform as effectively as locally based websites. Website communication must be quick and interactive but, often over long distances, from the UK to Australia for example, some aspects of site performance can degrade when hosted externally to the country. The company said this can be mitigated by caching screen information locally but, for some aspects like checkout, the only option is a content delivery network (CDN) or a locally hosted website. BT Fresca added that will be hosting Karen Millen’s website in Australia locally in the autumn.

The retailer also recently launched its first e-commerce website in Germany (July/August 2011 Retail Technology magazine, out next Friday).