How does a fashion magazine promote fashion brands, prioritize sustainability and make a profit at the same time? These are three questions for the head of e-commerce Oscar Eriksson.
Is it even possible to set up a fashion platform that combines exciting content and an extraordinary shop in 20 weeks? With the right foundation – an established fashion magazine – and the right partners for the technical implementation it is indeed possible to realize such an ambitious project in this short time frame. The collaboration between the print- and online magazine Scandinavian MAN and the team from the digital experience agency Tieto, as well as the agile microservices eCommerce platform commercetools, began in January 2019.
How did the collaboration come to be and what were the advantages of the constellation?
Oscar: Scandinavian MAN was already an established digital and print magazine for Scandinavian fashion. Building upon the brand’s story and creating an international platform for Nordic fashion and lifestyle brands was a logical next step that we wanted to take together with Tieto. While looking for a software partner, we decided to work with commercetools because of the scalability and the vast variety of available and customizable microservices. We needed a solution that is quick, universal and combinable with the existing modules in order to enable storytelling on all possible devices and channels. Tieto recommended commercetools based on the above requirements. Thereby, we were able to integrate a digital marketplace into our online magazine. The end result is an appealing combination of fashion journalism and visionary fashion.
What challenges did you have to overcome on your journey?
Oscar: One of the biggest challenges was to convey the credibility from the magazine to the shop. It was about transferring the brand’s reputation for quality from a B2B to a B2C business. Hence, we only promote an exclusive range of trendy and curated Nordic fashion and lifestyle brands on scandinavianman.com. Alongside these content-related strategies, we also had to consider a number of technical factors. Customers today do not shop predominantly on their desktop or smartphone. They use social media and virtual assistants too, often using all channels at all times and interchangeably. As a brand you want to exploit all channels from a single point, preferably via flexible services that are highly adaptable. Only then is it possible to react to the market, trends and customer demands in real-time and in a straightforward way.
Can you give us your initial review now that you are online with the new platform? How satisfied are you?
Oscar: We were able to launch an inspiring digital platform in a record time of 20 weeks thanks to the collaboration with Tieto and commercetools. Anyone scrolling through the newest fashion content on our site discovers Scandinavian labels almost playfully and is able to purchase their products online.
Thanks to commercetools, it was possible to directly link and integrate any brands webshops into the platform. This does not only provide advantages from a content management point of view, but it also means that we do not incur any storage costs.
Magazines and brands have one thing in common: everything is about storytelling and an appealing presentation. Even in the Scandinavian market, Amazon will not pass by without a trace. We not only need to look good, but we also need to remain flexible and competitive. By launching this platform, we have taken a big step forward on our journey.
Head of e-commerce, Scandinavian MAN
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