Marketplacer supercharges growth for retail giant Myer
Client
Myer
Location
Australia
Implementation
Connected
Growth Story
Myer Market customers have access to 75 retailers through a single website.
A range of 60,000 products is available for purchase and home delivery.
The website is attracting more than four million visitors each month
Overview
Myer launches enticing online marketplace for discerning retail customers
In 2017, Myer partnered with Marketplacer to create a curated lifestyle destination: the Myer Market.The e-commerce website is designed to broaden the direction of the traditional business, whilst retaining and supporting the retailers loyal, fashion-oriented, Myer One members.
Challenges
Target Audience
Myer has a large and loyal customer base which has traditionally made purchases through its network of bricks-and-mortar stores. The new ecommerce destination was a response to a fiercely competitive retail market and Myer’s ongoing challenge to grow market share without the need to hold or ship additional stock.
Myer Market facilitates endless aisles through a dropship system which, in turn, provides rapid, no-risk growth opportunities. The marketplace has since been merged with the myer.com.au website to create a seamless online experience for shoppers.
Project Challenges
When the project was first envisaged, a decision had to be made on whether to initially create a new, separate marketplace or enlarge the company’s existing online presence at myer.com.au. It was soon recognised that the former approach would be easier, more cost-effective, and provide a lower-risk solution.
- The Marketplacer platform provides frictionless integration with a variety of other platforms most commonly used by the third-party sellers, including Shopify, Magento and Woo Commerce. These APIs do not exist within myer.com.au.
- The platform provides an opportunity to create no-risk, endless aisles across a number of product categories.
- Marketplacer was mandated to deliver demonstrable customer service and new business growth, which was achieved.
Solutions
The Marketplacer and Myer teams began preparation for the migration early in 2017. The plan was to separate the Marketplacer back-end and integrate it over to Myer’s primary platform in a process commonly referred to as ‘headless’ operation.
- The plug-and-play functionality offered by Marketplacer offered a sizable saving in both time and cost.
- The platform provided a complete offering from product development through to ongoing back-end management.
- Additional retailers can be readily added to the site, expanding the number of offerings for customers.
- Customers enjoy a seamless experience which provides access to a diverse range of products from leading providers across a diverse range of categories.
Results
The website migration has enabled Myer to maintain all the benefits of its original marketplace with one very important distinction: everything now appears as a single, seamless offering on myer.com.au.
- The ‘headless’ operation provided a quick and frictionless migration that avoided unnecessary cost, delays, and cumbersome technical issues
- Some 75 retailers and 60,000 products have been simply switched ‘on’, with more expected to join
- Myer’s enhanced digital presence provides an exceptionally lower cost alternative to building new bricks-and-mortar stores
- Overheads are reduced and flexibility is increased. Myer can quickly test new products and categories to meet changes in customer demand and taste
- Customers have access to a huge and growing number of new products and entire new categories not previously seen within the retailer
- A single Myer platform avoids any confusion, and all purchases from marketplace sellers contribute to Myer One points
Purchases are also all covered by Myer’s refund policy
