The challenge: Delivering the “green vest” experience online
Since 1938, REI has delivered on its mission to inspire, educate and outfit its customers for a lifetime of outdoor adventure. Today, the company is a premier multi-channel retailer for specialty outdoor gear and apparel with more than $1.1 billion in annual sales. REI is also the nation's largest consumer cooperative, with more than 3.1 million active members.

At REI’s growing number of stores across the country, customers enjoy a tremendous selection of quality outdoor gear along with the company’s legendary brand of informed personal service. REI’s green-vested store employees help any customer, from novice to expert, find just what they need to prepare for their outdoor adventures.

How to bring the richness of REI’s in-store customer service to its online shoppers? REI saw the opportunity to instill more of its personalized, knowledge-rich “green vest” experience in the website by replacing its home-grown 10-year-old search software. The goals were clear: make it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for—the most relevant products, information and services—and enable the business to merchandise the website more effectively. REI was challenged to integrate a new best-of-breed search engine with robust merchandising capability while keeping the online store open during implementation. REI turned to Point B for our experience with leading complex projects with multiple moving parts.

Point B: Project leadership at every level
Point B experts led a cross-functional team at REI to create and manage the new search engine’s project plan every step of the way—from selecting the vendor through initial deployment to post-launch support. We worked alongside REI’s internal team on requirements definition, development, testing, deployment and post-implementation support.

We recognized that implementing a technology solution alone would not ensure the full measure of success REI was looking for: the project team also needed to think through the customer experience and ensure that REI’s end users could effectively merchandise the right products to their customers. With this in mind, we led critical activities to develop work processes, identify implementation tasks and train six end users responsible for merchandising REI’s online store.

Point B’s leadership contributed three essentials to the successful integration of the new search engine and the more powerful merchandising tool:

• We broke down the project’s complex scope into actionable tasks with clear endpoints. Point B kept the big picture in mind and enabled the project team to focus on near-term deliverables.
• We developed and executed a comprehensive operational plan that led to success. We helped leadership implement the solution through facilitation and work planning, then jointly managed hundreds of hours of merchandising work to get the enhanced online store customer-ready. Following the launch, we also led user workshops to increase competency, ensure a consistent customer experience, and establish a practice of continuous improvement for keeping store merchandising effective and fresh.
• We mentored new leaders to drive business results. Point B partnered with REI’s team members at every level to support their professional growth and the project’s success.

Results: Higher sales, more effective merchandising
REI’s new search engine supports more advanced online merchandising capabilities that consistently bring a “green vest” customer service experience to life online. Just one example: Now, when a customer searches for a bicycle online, the results include products as well as relevant Expert Advice articles and cycling trips from REI Adventures. The customer also sees featured products, promotions and inspiring images, implemented by the merchandising expert for the cycling shop. This new richness of relevant, customer-centric information helps REI customers make the best choices and has led to a 7 percent increase in conversion within the first year. What’s more, REI’s merchandisers have the skills and processes in place to more readily create diverse merchandising strategies and engage new customer experiences going forward.

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