The fashion retailer for taller women intends to make the sites live at the end of September and in the longer term hopes to launch sites in other Euro-pean languages.
It is working with technology partners Hybris and Portaltech to implement their joint e-commerce platform QuickLive Commerce, which is designed to allow a retailer to manage multiple sites. It will replace a web site created by Snow Valley that is not suitable for the retailer’s plans.
Long Tall Sally managing director Andrew Shapin said that about 5 per cent of the retailer’s sales are generated overseas, with the US and Germany its biggest international markets. However, it has aggressive plans to increase this. The company also intends to mail dollar versions of its printed catalogue to the US.
Long Tall Sally expects that the new platform will help it continue to grow in its home market; its direct business has increased 15 per cent in the past 12 months. Shapin said: “Direct shopping accounts for 50 per cent of sales and is the fastest growing part of the business. It will be 75 per cent of sales in two years’ time.”
The platform will give Long Tall Sally much more flexibility over how the site looks and allow it to change its merchandising on a daily or even hourly basis.
The site will include a customer review facility and product videos. Portaltech head of sales Mark Adams explained that the system uses merchandising tools from third parties as well as Hybris’s own functionality, but managed through a single interface. The retailer will be able to test which tools work best on its sites once they are live.
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