Fred Segal wants shopping its e-commerce site to feel more like serendipitously discovering the garments and goodies in one of its chic boutiques.
The nine-store chain, which operates three locations in the United States, turned to Next Retail Concepts and Mastercard to create what it hopes is a seamless experience designed to mimic the store experience. Instead of the static product pages typical to web-based commerce, Fred Segal’s new online experience invites visitors to click around the store floor, see how t-shirts, candles, handbags and more live nestled next to one another in the boutique environment, and get more info on products visually tagged with a plus sign. Items marked with a “3D” symbol afford a three-dimensional view of that product, and users also can zoom in of these items to see granular details.
Mastercard provides the checkout platform for the Fred Segal experience. “At Mastercard, we’re using our products and services to create solutions for retailers that allow them to meet the ever-growing expectations for a frictionless, customized experience, across any channel or connected device,” Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships, Mastercard, explained.
“Together with partners like Next Retail Concepts, we are evolving e-commerce to bring the physical store to life in an immersive, digital environment, all while enabling exclusive offers and seamless payment,” Haymond added.
Fred Segal is the inaugural retail partner for the experience co-created by Mastercard and Next Retail Concepts, which will premiere at 29Rooms—the design-focused pop-up designed by Refinery29 that’s gracing Los Angeles from Dec. 5-9.
Next Retail Concepts founder and CEO Neil Cole described the virtual e-commerce set-up as “a dynamic new way to shop.”
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“Our proprietary technology transforms the traditional e-commerce landscape within our innovative platform to create exciting and engaging immersive shoppable experiences that tell a brand story,” Cole added.
As with all retail technology developments these days, retailers using the platform stand to gain analytics and insights on the store’s performance in addition to offers and incentives tailored to the individual shopper, according to Next Retail Concepts.
Said Fred Segal president John Frierson, “Having an online presence is of course is an essential part of business, however at Fred Segal we rarely do things the traditional way. We’re thrilled to be the first major retailer to create a truly experiential online shopping destination. In partnership with Mastercard and Next Retail Concepts, we will bring our iconic West Hollywood Flagship to life in this new, experiential manner.”