Foot Locker, the leading retailer of athletically inspired footwear and apparel, first debuted its mobile sites back in 2008. The company recently re-launched its mCommerce destinations in part to better achieve a consistent brand experience across channels, whether in-store, online or on one’s phone. PYMNTS.com spoke with Stacy Cunningham (Corporate Vice President, Marketing, Foot Locker, Inc.) about the sites’ new mobile payment functionalities and other features that have improved the mobile purchasing process.
PYMNTS.com: For our readers who may not be familiar with Foot Locker, Inc., give us a little bit of background about the company and its customers.
STACY CUNNINGHAM (Corporate Vice President, Marketing, Foot Locker, Inc.): Foot Locker, Inc. is the world’s largest multi-channel athletic footwear and apparel retailer. Headquartered in New York City, it operates more than 3,400 stores in 22 countries in North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific under the brand names Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Footaction, Champs Sports and CCS. Additionally, the Company’s Footlocker.com/Eastbay/CCS business operates a direct-to-customers business offering athletic footwear, apparel and equipment through its Internet and catalog channels.
Our customers are informed, tech-savvy, value and style-conscious, Internet empowered, social and digital. They are busy, on-the-go…and want retailers to understand them better and provide them with exciting shopping experiences. They are sneaker enthusiasts who share the same passion and devotion that we do to all things “sneakers.” As the leading retailer of athletically inspired footwear and apparel, we are committed to providing the most optimal cross channel experience for our sophisticated shoppers. We are constantly looking for new and innovative approaches to further connect and engage with our customers while satisfying their ever-growing and evolving wants and needs.
PYMNTS.com: Foot Locker Inc. recently upgraded its mobile Internet destinations. What prompted this move?
CUNNINGHAM: We understood the importance of mobile from the beginning, as we launched our first sites in 2008. The original sites were on a different platform than the eCommerce sites, so one of our biggest goals was getting them on a shared platform. This allowed us to share features and functionality with the full sites to provide a more consistent experience for our customers. As with anything, the environment and customers’ expectations evolved, so our site presentation needed to change as well. Our customer interaction through the mobile channel has continued to grow.
PYMNTS.com: What are some of the new features, especially those pertaining to purchasing and payments?
CUNNINGHAM: The mobile sites have been completely redesigned with customer usability in mind. The enhanced features & functions include: improved search capabilities, VIP and customer account access, promo code redemption, gift card purchase/redemption, enhanced Store Locator functionality, the ability to read Ratings/Reviews, check in-store product availability and customers will receive VIP credit for mobile purchases. We also converted the sites to the same platform as the eCommerce sites. Part of the redesign was to improve the mobile purchasing experience…new technology. Features allow the pages to load much faster regardless of the speed of the wireless service the customer might be using. eCommerce checkout experiences can be cumbersome on a mobile device. Our goal was to streamline the process and break all the steps (billing, shipping, payment, etc.) into manageable actions for the customer. Customers with an account can go through the checkout with just a couple of clicks as all of their billing and shipping information is saved and can be accessed easily (instead of having to type everything in to the fields).
PYMNTS.com: How does mobile support the other ways that people can engage with Foot Locker – online, in the physical stores, etc.?
CUNNINGHAM: Consistency is key for each of our brands. Whether the customer walks into a store, browses the desktop Web or the mobile site, we want that customer to have a consistent brand experience for each banner. We want to make it easy for customers to find the newest and hottest shoes, apparel and accessories. However, it’s not all about the merchandising. By having a consistent experience between electronic channels, the customer is able to find the same products by using the same search terms and/or navigation, regardless of the way they decide to interact with us.
PYMNTS.com: What insights can you share with us about how people interact with you on your mobile Internet sites, and who these users are?
CUNNINGHAM: Our mobile shopper differs in that they spend a little less time on the mobile site (average session length is shorter) and “search” is a large percentage of the mobile site activity — less browsing. The mobile shopper also wants to find what they want and complete their transaction quickly without all of the extras one would find on a full eCommerce website.
PYMNTS.com: What do you expect from your mobile initiatives, and how do you rate their success?
CUNNINGHAM: Our mobile sites serve as an added extension for our customers to find precisely what they want in our stores while also serving as an alternative purchasing platform enabling them to shop anywhere they want via their mobile devices. Again, we want to provide our customers with a seamless and optimal cross channel experience.
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