"In a world of Instagram perfection, C&A wants to be a brand for real people"

C&A is determined to become once again the leading retailer it used to be. The fashion chain is digitising at a rapid pace and building a sticky ecosystem. “I don’t believe in companies where marketing and digital are separate,” says Joris Van Rooy.

Competitive advantage

“If you were starting a fashion company today, you would probably not set up country organisations with separate teams of buyers and merchandisers in each country. You would manage it centrally, and approach the consumer directly,” says Joris Van Rooy, who at C&A Europe is driving an ambitious project of modernisation and digitalisation.
 

But C&A was founded in 1841 and therefore has a legacy. That doesn’t have to be a disadvantage: “You don’t want to forget where you came from. C&A really was a forerunner in the fashion world. We have that craftsmanship, that quality, that sense of innovation. But you do want to forget the old way of thinking about the business: you can no longer manage with just physical shops. The blend between offline and online gives us a unique differentiation and a competitive advantage. That gives me confidence: we will be a leading fashion retailer again.”

On-to-offline experiences

At RetailDetail’s Omnichannel & E-Commerce Congress, Joris Van Rooy will talk more about C&A’s digital plans. He emphasises that focus is not on technology, but on the consumer: “My official role is now ‘consumer & digital officer’. I started as chief digital officer but I do not believe in companies where marketing and digital are separated. Nor do I believe that digital is a function: it is a way of working. So we changed the organisation to a consumer-digital team because we should serve the consumer 360°. Ideally, that relationship starts digitally and ends wherever the consumer wants it to.”
 

Three years ago, C&A was a strong retail chain, but shops have not proved Covid-proof. The majority of people now see the world as digital. They have high expectations: the experience must be seamless. So C&A has to take the lead in the digital acceleration. The fact that the chain also has 1,400 physical shops in Europe, in the right locations, is an asset in this regard. “We have to serve consumers on their path and make their lives as easy as possible. Our shops help us to build meaningful relationships. On-to-offline experiences is what I call them.”

Building an ecosystem

However, the fashion retailer still has big steps to take to further strengthen those customer relationships, says Van Rooy. “Many consumers love us, but we don’t love them back. Because we can’t: we have millions of C&A customers, but we don’t yet have a data pool with which to work. To turn one-time visitors into returning members, we need to set up a ‘sticky’ ecosystem.”
 

That’s why customer segmentation is now a priority for C&A. “We are currently speaking to 9,000 consumers in different markets. That’s huge. And we ask them everything: what are their style preferences, what do they wear on what occasions… What we’re trying to do is get our position sharp: where do we want to win, where do we want to play? We have always been a brand that democratised fashion. Now we want to democratise sustainable fashion. In a world of Instagram perfection, we want to be a brand for real people. That’s the sweet spot for C&A. We don’t look at competitors, we want to be different.”

The endless aisle

Whether that digitisation project will have an impact on the retailer’s shop network? “As a brand we want to build one-to-one relationships with consumers, give them a reason to come and stay. We need to do this at the pace of the consumer. If consumers go more digital, then we have to follow. If the ratio of digital to physical shops then becomes 30/70 or vice versa, so be it. We are already doing tests with memberships. Consumers who sign up as members and who buy in the shop as members, spend twice as much on their next purchase online compared to non-members “, Van Rooy says.
 

“But I do understand your question. We have announced shop closures in Hasselt and elsewhere. Today, we want to make sure that our shops have the right concept in the right location. Where do we want to be in the future? The days when brands like C&A opened those huge shopping palaces, with 12000 m², five floors… those days are gone. You know your conversion rate goes down with every escalator. Online you have that endless aisle where consumers can find everything they need.”

Places are limited

Want to know more? Joris Van Rooy will be explaining C&A’s ambitions on 24 March during the RetailDetail Omnichannel & E-Commerce Congress, which will be taking place in Antwerp. The international program for the event also includes baby shop De Gele Flamingo, healthy restaurant chain Exki, fashion chain ZEB and Ochama, the robotic omnichannel concept of Chinese internet giant JD.com. Moderator is retail professor Gino Van Ossel of Vlerick Business School. More names will be announced shortly. You can find all practical information and order your tickets via this link. Don’t wait too long: places are limited.