New Balance took its second step in as many months last week toward upgrading its technological capabilities with the launch of “its first digital flagship store.”
“Our customer is at the core of every decision we make,” Damien Leigh, senior vice president of direct-to-consumer for New Balance, said in a statement. “When we decided to move our flagship store online, it was imperative that the shift not only maintained but improved upon the level of service we strive to provide for each and every athlete.”
According to Deloitte Digital, the tech company behind the redesign, the new Salesforce Commerce Cloud-powered site operates at a speed 35 percent faster than the previous version.
The new site gives visitors “an intuitive and engaging experience that pairs a sleek, highly visual display with industry-leading technical enhancements to optimize NewBalance.com for today’s online-first shopping environment,” Deloitte said.
As the shift toward e-commerce continues, the technology company said New Balance sought to create an online store that could translate the service quality of a physical store into the virtual world. Key considerations included aesthetic elements, such as larger imagery and editorial-style layouts, and technical advancements that would ensure a speedy and seamless experience.
In addition to back-end updates, the new site adds an all-new Running Shoe Finder designed to mirror the personalized guidance a customer would typically receive in-person. Consisting of five prompts, the service asks the customer multiple-choice questions like “Where do you run most?” “What type of run are you going on?” and “How do you want each step to feel?” The tool provides tailored recommendations based on the user’s responses, complete with additional feedback about the personalized benefits of the selected shoes.
The new site follows New Balance’s announcement in late October that it would be deploying cloud-based applications from retail technology provider Aptos across its operations in both North America and Europe. The rollout aims to modernize customer experiences through expanded fulfillment options, optimized merchandise availability and more seamless channel interactions, Aptos said.