Neiman Marcus allows closer look at online shopping

Neiman Marcus is taking the capabilities of its digital lookbooks to a whole new level.



Neiman Marcus has deployed the Zmags Creator rich media marketing platform to design and publish shoppable lookbooks on its e-commerce site. The retailer’s more than 150 annual lookbooks serve as the primary way to highlight designer merchandise on its site.



However, technical limitations of a highly customized e-commerce platform and the cost to custom code prevented Neiman Marcus from inserting richer shopping functionality within the lookbooks. This meant fewer conversions, lost sales and a less than ideal customer experience.



Using Creator, Neiman Marcus launched five lookbooks in the first six weeks and then added another 45 lookbooks for a total of 50 in 12 weeks. Customer engagement metrics have met expectations and Neiman Marcus achieved its goal of building an enhanced user experience with shoppable lookbooks.



In one seven-week period, Neiman Marcus shoppable lookbooks saw three million page views, and 10% of those converted into launching a quick view experience to initiate the purchasing process.



“Zmags Creator enables us to maintain our merchandising leadership while avoiding significant technology costs and risks,” said Peggy Trowbridge, VP merchandising, Web stores at Neiman Marcus. “Creator also enables us to deliver an enhanced customer experience that has proven to increase sales. We are very satisfied with the levels of customer engagement and the return on investment that we have achieved with Creator and are excited to expand its use within our organization.”



Visual social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube have all been launching or piloting new features that let consumers make easy purchases from retailers without having to visit a separate e-commerce site. There is no reason retailers shouldn’t offer the same convenient purchase capability in their proprietary digital and social assets, and more companies will likely follow in Nordstrom’s footsteps.