CASE STUDY
The client
Ralph Lauren Corporation is a global luxury fashion retailer founded in 1967 and headquartered in New York. One of the world’s most recognised designer brands across five categories: apparel, footwear, home, fragrances and hospitality.
The challenge
Ralph Lauren was struggling with disjointed and inconsistent communications among the 3,000 employees of their 41 global stores.
The business had no digital hub and only store managers had email addresses, meaning there was no reliable way to communicate from HQ to the shop floor staff or between stores.
The business was incurring serious consequences as a result. Firstly, it was very difficult to properly disseminate and track important communications about new store arrangements or the latest campaigns. Head office would inform the store manager but would have no way of knowing if the information had been properly passed on to the shop floor staff or correctly understood by them.
Secondly, employee turnover reached an all-time high. The young employees people on the shop floor were completely disconnected from HQ and the leadership. They had no connection to the wider business beyond their own branch and felt no loyalty to the wider company.
Thirdly, when employees are disengaged and not up-to-date on company-wide changes this is reflected in a poorer customer experience. For example, if a customer finds an offer on the company website but the store employees have no idea that it exists, it doesn’t look good!
Ralph Lauren decided that they needed to invest in creating a deeply-connected retail workforce in order to improve internal communications and collaboration and, ultimately, deliver a superior customer experience.
The solution
The Future Worx team helped Ralph Lauren to craft a vision for a new digital employee hub that would form the foundation stone of their new vision. As the workforce consisted mainly of millennials, the choice was made to go with Workplace By Facebook to leverage the familiarity of the platform and make adoption smoother.
The online platform was constructed as an extension of their physical spaces. This meant building out the online groups and channels in a way that mirrored the structure of their existing stores and teams on the ground. In addition, groups were created that spanned physical locations so that store employees could communicate and connect across silos.
The employees would have to use their own devices and data to download the Workplace app and so would need to be thoroughly convinced that it was worth their time. This meant that adoption would be the make-or-break factor in the transformation.
We put together a powerful launch campaign to demonstrate the value of the new hub to employees and support them to make the transition. Given that there were no email or phone communications available, we created a unique brand for the new platform and raised awareness in all the regional stores with balloons, posters, and other exciting swag. A company-wide countdown to the launch was initiated to help build excitement.
In order to help people to claim their accounts in the absence of a company email address, we had to get creative: we had the store managers print a welcome pack for each of their staff, which included an introductory message and a personalised QR code or URL that they could follow to register.
The final piece of the puzzle was providing employees with the training and technical support to be able to use the new platform effectively. We did this in a few ways: firstly, we set up the Genius Desk, our bespoke, white-glove support service to provide one-on-one technical assistance for anyone who needed help. Secondly, we built out a network of champions for every single store, training them to raise awareness, build excitement and provide support around the new platform. Thirdly, we created a series of simple, user-friendly guides to support people to get the most out of the platform.
The business
outcome
In the first 21 days after launch, 94% of Ralph Lauren employees downloaded the Workplace app. The company went from a state of near-total disconnection to having almost all of their store employees connected and actively engaging on a central platform.
And this development opened up communication and collaboration in a way that the business had never experienced before:
Firstly, the business could now consistently communicate brand initiatives and directly to their 3,000 employees across all stores. Instructions for store arrangements and seasonal campaigns could be consistently and reliably delivered. The reverse is also true: it gave store workers a voice, letting them feedback and dialogue with the head office through video, images, and text.
Secondly, internal visibility was cracked wide open. Employees in different stores that had never been in contact before suddenly were able to see what the other was up to and share and communicate with them. Live video could be used to stream leadership events, important speeches, and so on.
Thirdly, it helped generate real enthusiasm and engagement at the grassroots level. Employees started to get really engaged, organically sharing what they were up to and sparking competitions and other viral content. For example, stores challenged each other to see who could create the neatest and most colourful cashmere shirt wall.
The platform provided Ralph Lauren with immediate business value in terms of communication and collaboration. But this foundation also showed them the art of the possible when it comes to retail connectivity and opened the door for a multitude of future initiatives.