Scotch & Soda Invests in DTC Experience
Scotch & Soda‘s new U.S. owner invested in digital technology to support the brand’s direct-to-consumer growth.
Now under the ownership of New York brand management group Bluestar Alliance, Scotch & Soda’s U.S. sales strategy will be powered by Nogin, a “Commerce-as-a-Service” (CaaS) platform offering a turnkey solution for end-to-end DTC operations. The software optimizes customer data with AI-powered shopper segmentation capabilities, and provides algorithmic merchandising, personalization options and smart promotion optimization. Nogin will also integrate with Scotch & Soda’s U.S. store network to engage in-store shoppers with omnichannel strategies.
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The 13-year-old technology provider, which also serves brands like Bebe, Hurley and Kenneth Cole, enabled Scotch & Soda to re-platform from Salesforce’s Commerce Cloud platform to Shopify Plus in just two weeks, using its proprietary technology to load the full brand catalog, corresponding metadata and other brand content. Within two days, the brand’s order management and fulfillment were fully integrated. Nogin is working to shift Scotch & Soda’s consumer data set and transaction history to its Intelligent Commerce platform to maintain a consistent brand experience online.
Shopify director of partnerships Colleen Oates said Nogin “differentiates itself as a partner” through its ability “to leverage our technology and its own to provide solutions to its clients in ways we don’t see often executed.” Shopify is seeking to grow its partnership with the provider moving forward, she added.
“Scotch & Soda is a prominent player in the global fashion industry,” said Shahriyar Rahmati, chief operating officer at Nogin. “To support the brand’s D2C business, we built the new Scotch & Soda site from scratch, including its online outlet store,” using Nogin’s Intelligent Commerce platform as well as integrated technologies from Shopify Plus.
Founded in 1985, the Amsterdam-based men’s, women’s and children’s lifestyle brand carries apparel, footwear, denim, eyewear, fragrances and accessories, and operates more than 200 freestanding retail stores across Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Australia. Scotch & Soda filed for bankruptcy in the Netherlands in March, citing “severe cash flow issues.”
Bluestar Alliance acquired the bankrupt brand’s worldwide distribution rights. The company, which owns Hurley, Bebe, Tahari, Nanette Lepore, Catherine Malandrino, Kensie, Justice, Limited Too and English Laundry, announced last week that it would be taking on an affiliate acquisition of Scotch & Soda’s U.S. wholesale and retail business assets, allowing products to be sold in U.S. retail stores. Bluestar believes the partnership with Nogin will improve the consumer experience and engagement.
The brand’s consumers “expect a leading-edge D2C shopping experience,” Bluestar Alliance chief operating officer Ralph Gindi said, and “Nogin gives us enterprise-level ecommerce abilities without the up-front cost and complexity of traditional methods—allowing us to execute D2C across our brands.”
The partners prioritized speed and efficiency in making the transition between software solutions, and the result was achieved “without any investment in replatforming or period of downtime,” creating an uninterrupted shopping experience, he added. “With Nogin’s deep experience in the apparel industry, and the partnership between our teams, we were able to confidently engage them to drive e-commerce for Scotch and Soda, while we focus on delivering the unique fashions our customers love to our loyal customers and audiences beyond.”
