Ramping Up Retail with Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Phase Eight is one of the most refreshing success stories of the modern British high street. Founded in 1979, the first Phase Eight shop in London offered sophisticated, accessible attire to women of any age. The brand has been growing ever since, and today has 313 retail locations in the UK, and an additional 146 internationally. To replicate the success the bricks and mortar locations have experienced into the digital world, Phase Eight turned to Dept.

Phase Eight selected Salesforce Commerce Cloud as its eCommerce platform, as it required a robust solution that could integrate with its parent company, The Foschini Group (TFG), and affiliated brands. South African retail conglomerate TFG operates across Africa, Australia, and the UK, with its London arm comprising Phase Eight, Hobbs, and Whistles. TFG is pursuing global digital transformation, so it was paramount that the software as a service (SAAS) technology laid a pathway for future expansion, uniting the group, and equipping launches across multiple regions with functionality to localise currencies and languages.

This was a highly technical configuration and development project, overhauling legacy systems and building a new architecture, unleashing the core functionality within the Commerce Cloud framework. With a portfolio of similar, enterprise-level configuration projects, Dept was appointed to lead the technical implementation strategy. The latest version of Salesforce Commerce Cloud Storefront Reference Architecture (SFRA) was utilised. This new approach to developing and customising the storefront connects to the digital platform through an API layer, creating an optimum ecosystem to integrate with third parties, and supplement the capabilities of the platform with the addition of Cybersource Payment Gateway, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Feefo Reviews, Mention Me, Adobe Mail, Mercatus, OneStock, and HubBox.

Dept vouched for Commerce Cloud SFRA as a means to deliver the new platform quickly, whilst mitigating pressures associated with overtaking a live international storefront, as well as future-proofing Phase Eight. Artificial intelligence, Apple Pay, and more new releases will be made available incrementally throughout the year, and easily configured into the platform with minimal development resource.

Phase Eight upholds a reputation for providing exceptional customer service online and offline. To ensure this duty of care is considered and carried out effectively in the emergent platform, Dept worked collaboratively with the Phase Eight team to design the user-journeys. Key features and touchpoints were programmed within Commerce Cloud to provide a customer experience that falls in line with what customers have come to expect and appreciate from the brand. Alongside UX, speed and performance were also enhanced to optimise the shopping experience across all devices and screen sizes.

Phase Eight was replatformed to Salesforce Commerce Cloud, using the Storefront Reference Architecture (SFRA), within a tight timeline. Four websites were launched across the UK, Australia, and Europe with multi-currency payment processing for sterling, euros, and dollars.  The technical architecture of the commerce implementation means that Phase Eight can continue to thrive, with optimum user-journeys for the modern-day consumer to shop. Dept is continuing to collaborate with Phase Eight and its affiliate companies on various technical projects.