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R.M.Williams is one of the best-known and best-loved footwear brands in the world. Its iconic leather boots have been worn by millions of people around the world, and now its collection includes a wide range of leather craft for which demand continues to grow internationally. Rooted in legacy and the values of the Australian outback, the brand is sold in 70 stores globally, mostly in its home country of Australia but with an expanding footprint in other markets.
In 2020, Tattarang, one of Australia’s largest private investment groups, acquired R.M.Williams. The company did so with a long-term vision for the brand, which propelled R.M.Williams to make its largest-ever capital investment in digital, encompassing an ecommerce site upgrade, marketing automation, customer data management, and store systems.
When looking for new store systems specifically, the brand was focused on finding a solution that would enable it to achieve a true, connected omnichannel experience. Its previous system was outdated and couldn’t provide the level of innovation needed to support the brand’s digital transformation goals. Instead of the status quo, the CEO and technology team envisioned a platform that was as intuitive as using an iPhone and sure enough, that’s NewStore.
With one platform combining order management and point of sale (POS), R.M.Williams sought to streamline its associate-customer interactions and provide a consistent experience across every retail channel. It also wanted to open up access to its store inventory, making it more productive so associates would never have to say no to customers. The ultimate desire was to launch under new management with a best-in-breed omnichannel experience.
“I would highly recommend NewStore [to any] retailer that wants to provide a true, connected experience for their customer, and a brilliant customer experience as well.”
— Peter Ratcliffe, Head of Technology, R.M.Williams
Prior to its journey with NewStore, R.M.Williams had disparate systems across its organization for customer, order and inventory information. With the NewStore POS, not only is all of this information integrated into one system, but it is at associates’ fingertips on an iPhone. And each team member is equipped with their own device. This has made the brand’s “Signature Service,” which typically includes sitting down with customers, discussing leather options, and trying on boots, that much more personalized. The associate is armed with all the data they need from inventory lookup and the made-to-order experience through to checkout.
In terms of checkout, previously, each store had one fixed point of sale, which meant there would often be a queue of customers waiting to check out. Now, each associate on shift can be checking out a customer — and from anywhere in the store. NewStore has effectively rendered the cash wrap redundant. In fact, what was the cash wrap area in the R.M.Williams shop in London is now a leather embossing station!
Additionally, with the NewStore POS, R.M.Williams is capturing a customer email for 78% of transactions — 62% of which are net new, driving an increase in customer profile creation. With the brand’s former POS, the process of adding customer data was clunky. Now, the entire checkout flow is frictionless.
Overall, R.M.Williams is seeing significant returns by having a mobile-first platform. The brand had a record-breaking 2022 Christmas period with the NewStore POS, with plans to unlock more omnichannel capabilities in 2023. The system has been extremely easy for the brand’s team to learn, and turning on new features in the future is expected to not only be seamless, but to make the brand’s shopping experience even more exceptional as it scales globally.
