The BtoB digital experience according to Gauchere

Gauchere, the French house registered on the Paris Fashion Week official calendar, has chosen Le New Black to be able to present and sell its collections online, following travel restrictions for buyers and the cancellation of physical showrooms. Elodie Canut, Head of Sales at Gauchere, shares the house’s strategic orientations over the past year and the success of the brand’s digital showroom.

Le New Black : How are you doing after this very special new season?

We are well ! We used the time of the confinement to reflect, when the whole world was on pause. We are a small, agile organisation, which has allowed us to be responsive and creative in this unprecedented situation. Very quickly, the question of the presentation of our next collections arose and we are lucky to have received the support of the Federation de la Mode et de la Haute Couture and DEFI, which presented us several solutions to prepare the digital fashion week of June. We were already investing a lot in digital and had started this reflection before the crisis: our digital BtoB showroom had to be like an “extension” of our BtoC e-shop. We also have an internal Digital Manager who manages all these subjects serenely with our artistic director Marie-Christine Statz.

Le New Black : You joined Le New Black in May 2020, during the crisis. What were your expectations at that time? Have your needs changed since?

We needed a platform for the presentation and online sale of our collections to our network of retailers, with the same user experience than our BtoC e-shop. We have worked hard on the personalisation of our digital showroom on Le New Black, which has its own URL, so our buyers would not be confused, and enter the world of Gauchere. Our goal was to transcribe virtually the shopping experience that is at the heart of our Parisian showroom Rue de Rivoli, facing the Louvre. We worked a lot on the content of the digital showroom with our photographer, who is familiar with the house, so that the photos convey the brand’s DNA and speak for themselves. We use these photos on our Instagram and Facebook accounts and in our BtoC e-shop, which allows us to optimise costs.

We welcomed all of our French customers, Galeries Lafayette, Samaritaine and Printemps.com to our physical showroom during the October and January sales sessions. We use the digital showroom to show the looks worn when we don’t have a model, and show garments that customers can try on themselves. Our digital showroom has also allowed us to reach buyers who might not have taken the time to look at our collections if we only had a basic tool or no tool at all. Our digital showroom shows a certain professionalism and reassures our buyers.

Le New Black : What are your buyers’ feedbacks on their order taking in your digital showroom?

We trusted the ergonomy of the platform, and our buyers visited our digital showroom in a natural, frictionless way. We simply sent them invitations through the platform, they just had to create their password to access the digital showroom, it’s like they were on Net-à-Porter or Matches Fashion. At each remote meeting with a customer, we do a walkthrough in Gauchere digital showroom and everyone tells us that it is one of the most beautiful they have seen and that it is a pleasure to navigate it. Not a single customer has approached me for a technical request!

“Le New Black is a complete tool that suits us perfectly, I am very proud to show our collections through this tool and our customers love it!”

Le New Black : What are your favorite features on Le New Black?

As a brand, we greatly value the audience, sales and production reports. They allow us to follow what customers are doing in the showroom, whether they open our invitations, click on a particular link or product sheet, etc. This allows me to bounce back during my sales meetings and show certain products to help confirm the choices of my customers. The personalisation of the homepage is also appreciated by our team because it allows us to show our lookbooks, the video of the show, propose silhouettes or close-ups.

Le New Black : What advice would you give today to a brand integrating a BtoB solution such as Le New Black in its organisation?

It is now essential to invest in such a tool, which is another way to showcase your brand. A fashion brand must be able to speak to all of its audiences through digital, especially when you are an emerging designer who must control your investments. I would obviously recommend Le New Black for its expertise and all the features that allow the brand to personalise the digital showroom, such as the URL and customisable pages. It is a necessary and compulsory investment, the benefits of which are felt in the very short term.