Department store Kastner und Oehler
References Kastner & Öhler Mode GmbH
Background
Kastner & Öhler Mode GmbH is a fashion house offering top fashion brands and trends for men and women. Founded in 1873, the owner-run business is not only Austria’s largest fashion house, offering over 70,000 items; its sports brand Gigasport also offers high-quality sporting goods. During an initial discussion with Digital Commerce consultants, which aimed partly to highlight untapped potential in online retail, the attention of the Kastner & Öhler Mode GmbH project team was drawn to the marketplace enabling service. Always open to new ideas and opportunities, this was the starting point for the expansion of online retail activities in Switzerland.
Goals
In terms of digitization, the fashion and sports company engages time and again with new, digital sales channels to bring its comprehensive range to potential target groups and to profit from these sales. Although the company has been visible in Swiss online retail since the start of 2021, this has been via its own channels, such as the online shop and website. The goal was to boost the expansion of online sales and connect new sales channels in order to access new target groups − plans that have become possibilities thanks to marketplace enabling.
The topic of the digital marketplace naturally comes up for us on a regular basis, as it features heavily in Austrian online retail. As an innovative family business, we are always looking for suitable partners with the same quality requirements as ours. The Digital Commerce consultants were a huge help with this, from their very competent initial advice on Swiss online retail to various market and trend analyses and the option to expand our sales network sustainably. For us, the Digital Commerce consultants were more than just ‘matchmakers’. They have continued to support us since the marketplace went live, and they give us valuable tips on expanding our range and reaching even more consumers.
Gernot Ortoff, Head of Online Marketing & eCommerce at Kastner & Öhler and Gigasport
Result
As the Kastner & Öhler Mode GmbH range is very broad and comprehensive, it wasn’t just a case of checking the product data; possible connection options needed critical appraisal, too. Most important was integrating the marketplace into the existing peripheral systems so that product and order data could be synchronized smoothly. Thanks to the Digital Commerce team and the Kastner & Öhler Mode GmbH IT team, this complex project was successfully completed in less than one year from the initial consultation. Meanwhile, several thousand products from Kastner & Öhler Mode GmbH can now be found on one of the largest Swiss marketplaces, alongside sporting items from their company Gigasport. The sales figures speak for themselves. The family business is delighted with several thousand additional orders per month, without any fall in sales in their own online shop.
Our services
(6) E-shop/marketplace: With the marketplace enabling service, the Digital Commerce team has made it easier for Kastner & Öhler Mode GmbH to gain access to the relevant marketplaces in Switzerland. Successful connection to the existing shop and peripheral systems was vital to this success, and employee training in the new ordering and logistics processes was just as important. The Digital Commerce Consulting team provided support for this by advising the Kastner & Öhler Mode GmbH project team and targeting optimizations from previous experiences. New sales and marketing channels in online retail are reviewed for further potential on an ongoing basis in order to enable effective visibility and market growth.