Jennifer Meyer is...Locked in Barneys

FRAUD/SECURITY PREVENTIONS and FUNCTIONALITIES

Jackée Trinidad
FM323
Final Blog

Value Proposition





       Stating what is the epitome of the chic New Yorker, Barneys New York's website boast that it offers "Taste, Luxury, Humor" to it's brick-and-mortar customers as well as their online customers. The company offers a sophisticated assortment of merchandise with urban and trendy flair and does so in innovative ways through their site. Customers can find a range of products from well-known designers to new emerging designers which gives the company its sense of innovation, giving the unknowns space in their company.

       As a "mecca for discerning fashionistas" Barneys has managed to earn contracts with top designers that do not sell in other department stores which include Balenciaga and Rodarte. In addition to these collaborations they also do exclusive business with new designers giving more variety to their merchandise assortment. With the recent closures of several of the Barneys Co-Op locations, the company is trying to refocus their merchandise in the company to be more exclusive to the store which they call their "XO. Exlusively Ours" assortment.  Below are some items that are exclusive (marked XO) to the store both online and in stores.

       In keeping with their humor aspect, the company post videos to their site called "Locked in Barneys..." which stars Simon Doonan and a variety of designers that have merchadise in the store. In these videos the stars are locked in Barneys overnight and the shenanigans they get in to are documented short videos usually 2-8 minutes long and gives shoppers an inside look at how the trend-setters are Barneys still have fun with the company.

According to Hoovers.com, Barneys.com's largest competitors are Saks.com and Bergdorfgoodman.com. Barneys.com manages to differentiate itself from its competitors by providing more interactivity through promotional video, social media aspects and through their online blog called The Window with their feature called The Influencers where personal shoppers offer trend advice.

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Elements of Barneys.com

Addressibility:

• Customers can register on the site and when they visit they are greeted by their member name.
• With registry the customer is able to view items they have "favorited," track purchase histories and make orders.
• The only problem with being registered on the site is the lack of content and interactivity involved with membership outside of their favorites and personal information.

Interactivity:

• The site suggest related items to the ones being viewed organized by the designer being viewed and the item.
• The items you have viewed and tracked and are shown to you in the section at the lower level called Recently Viewed.

• THE INFLUENCERS is an area within the blog where designers, socialites, and trend setters showcase their favorite pieces from current collections really engaging the customers.
• Lookbooks: The site features lookbook from select current collections and themed lookbooks. While looking through the online books you can click on a page and directly shop the items on the page.

Memory:

Control

• Filtering: Filtering can be done by Category, Designers, Collections, XO, and New Items.
• Order: When looking through specific categories customers can control how they view the merchandise based on Price High to Low/Low to High, Most Popular, Designer, Top Sellers and Alphabetically.
• Weakness: No option to sort by size.



Accessibility:

• Detailed company information is available at the bottom of each page on the site including contact information and their privacy policy.

• As pertainging to merchandise information, customers can find the details of the merchandise available including it's style, fiber content, colors, size availability and a size chart for those unsure of which size to order.



Digitization

• The background color of the site is white making it clear to see the fabric and colors of the merchandise.
• Promotional colors are simple with the use of Red, Blue and Gray to highlight the promotional items.
• Multiple views of the products are given as well as a zoom option.



• Weaknesses: The Barneys site could use a few upgrades.
• Flat images often make it hard to really visualize how the products will look, having videos of models wearing the merchandise will help customers get an understanding of how to wear it and where.
• Accessories are not shown on models or with complimenting outfits so Barneys should try to show the size and style of the bag on models.

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Positioning

       Barneys.com executes luxury well. The company showcases collections in elaborate displays, usually full of color, on both the site and in-store. The use of color enhances the humor aspect of the color while the luxury products are shown in elegantly worn ways.

       Weakness: Often there identical themes and promotions between the physical locations and the website but currently there is not. The store is currently celebrating 60 Years of Celine with pieces from Celine in all of the windows while the website does not mention the Celine campaign at all. Currently the website is pushing women's wear and swimsuits upon entering the site. The noted difference between the two versions of commerce provides variety for the customers who seek in-store and online experiences but the lack of celebration for Celine on the website makes it nearly impossible to fully capitalize on the event. 

Current Barneys.com Homepage

Current Celine Celebration in Stores

       Barneys.com actually has this in common with its competitors. Both Saks.com and Bergdorfgoodman.com are currently lacking connections between what is going on in their store and what is going on online. To differentiate itself better Barneys should try to align more of the in-store events with the online events, even if it's just a feature on the homepage where one clicks to see what is happening in the stores.

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Merchandise Assortment

Barneys.com offers merchandise to cover their customers chic lifestyle. They carry Women’s, Men’s, Children’s, Shoes, Handbags, Jewelry, Beauty, Makeup, Home, Accessories and Dog products.

What makes Barneys.com different?

• The variety of ways to shop merchadise including based on trends, gift ideas and collections.
• Social Media: While you can post items directly to FaceBook and Twitter, within the site you are able to "like" merchandise and view all liked items at once.

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FRAUD/SECURITY PREVENTIONS and FUNCTIONALITIES

Privacy Policy Regarding Fraud/Security Preventions:

 

Source: www.barneys.com/privacy-policy

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Globalization

       Barneys New York caters to clients from all over the world and they have made it so that their online customers can purchase the merchandise as well. Barneys.com can ship to over 90 countries on 5 different continents. A drop down menu at checkout allows you to select if the merchandise will be shipped domestically or internationally. If international shipping is chosen then a drop down menu with possibly every country is listed. Unfortantely not all of their products can be shipped everywhere. This is what appears when a customer is in a country that the item can not be shipped to.

Benchmarking Barneys.com's Global Success:

Barneys New York is a company that is shopped by fashion enthusiasts from all over the world so offering their merchandise to international customers is important for the company to maintain satisfactory client relationships. It is great that Barneys.com can ship internationally and also gives the option to change the currencies and languages at checkout to French, Spanish and Dutch.

However, while shipping has been made available internationally, Barneys.com should do more to cater to these clients by offering more language selections, paymetn methods and consistent shopping experiences between the brick-and-mortar stores and online store.

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SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

•The site is very clean cut and the white background makes it easy to view colors and fabrics of merchandise.

•Large variety of product assortment from designers and up-and-comers.

•Ability to like and view liked items with one-click.

•The Window is interactive, videos that represent the company’s image and current collections as well as features on celebrities and designers.

Weaknesses:
•Images of products are flat, should use videos to show the product in a more interesting way. Their competitor Saks.com has videos of their merchandise that automatically play when you click on an item.

•Can only interact through social media sites FaceBook and Twitter directly from the site whereas their competitors offer options to “pin” items to Pinterest and post to Google+.

• Their in-store campaigns do not always align with their online campaigns. Currently the brick-and-mortar stores are Celebrating 60 Years of Celine which is not mentioned on the website at all. Needs to make the customer feel like their getting the full Barneys experience.

Opportunities:

•Barneys.com has the chance to gain more views through social media sites like Pinterest and Google+.

•The company is currently trying to focus on XO, adding videos of models in the exclusive merchandise can enhance the products.

•So much effort is invested in their window themes and displays and they should be promoted and recognized on the website, the site should feature more of these.

Threats:

•The sites’ competitors offer more interactivity through social media sites.

•The ability to view the merchandise in short videos makes the products, and their websites, more interesting to view.

Marketing Campaign

"Jemima Kirke and Barneys New York"

       Jemima Kirke is currently starring in HBO's Girls, as Jessa Johannson. Like her character in the show she is British but has spent much of her life in New York. Kirke's father is a drummer and her mother owns a vintage shop. She has an art degree and lives with her husband and two children in Brooklyn. She nails the downtown NYC look and lives a life synonimus with art and fashion, all while being known for her no-holds sense of humor. She represents Barneys New York artfully.

       Since it is Spring in NYC, Kirke will be shown enjoying what the city has to offer as the days become longer and the dresses become shorter. Kirke will participate in a variety of activities (visiting art galleries in SoHo, painting in her own studio, walking through small neighborhood parks possibly playing with her children as wearing Barneys apparel, attending a dinner party and then the after party) all while wearing the lastest seasonal trends such as cigarette pants, bold floral prints and lots of fringe. The ad will be an advertorial and Kirke will talk about how Barneys NY fits her lifestyle and personal style.

• Social Media:
•  Ads for the campaign will appear on the site's FaceBook page as well as their Twitter page.
• A commercial based on the advertorial can be shown before and after the show airs on HBO.
• The advertorial will be sent to all registered email clients.