Talk about setting the precedence, Bonobos has shattered the classic omnichannel model.

Bonobos have taken their stand against traditional brick and mortar while giving the new standard in eCommerce a run for its money. It's quite obvious when you purchase from Bonobos, they have made a new path in a crowded field of sameness. Founded back in 2007 by Andy Dunn and Brian Spaly as a discovery that most men were unsatisfied with the fit of their pants, the pair started delivering handmade chinos to students out of Trader Joe's bags. The story is a whole lot more cultured than that but this incredible story will leave any retailer wondering what they could do better to inspire a better customer experience. Bonobos is the classic example of David vs Goliath, who managed to carve out their own model for how customers should interact with their product both online and offline. The first thing you notice when you purchase is the swiftness and ease in ordering. Beyond the simplicity here they have introduced the first purpose-built showrooms for their customers. This allows people to come in, check out their full line of clothes, and order right within the store to have the pants delivered to your door. But wait, isn't showrooming terrible? not anymore. In this inside look at Bonobos we'll run through their unique approach to retail and a new way of looking at how retailers and their online counterparts work together to form an unforgettable retail experience.

An Interesting Backstory

With $150,000 in debt, and $3,000 in his bank account Andy Dunn took the risk to pursue Bonobos. Andy was a classic American dream, attending Northwestern University and graduating to work directly in Bain & Company as a consultant in Chicago. Andy discovers a love of travel after a six-month project in San Salvadore. During this time Andy took a job at the national airline of El Salvador and travels to other countries on the weekends. This love of travel inspires him to visit over 30 countries in two years from 2003-2005. It was at this point when both Andy and Spaly met at a GSB class attending Stamford. Spaly decides to conduct some first-hand knowledge of his peers to discover how their pants fit. It was after this experiment Spaly created and sold $10,000 in pants out of Trader Joes bags. From this point Spaly asked Dunn to be the CEO and they set out to sell as many pants as they could. Through pants parties, trunk shows, and selling pants at their friends weddings the duo were able to sell 475 pairs of pants, validating their business idea. As the friends of Andy and Brian saw what was happening, they asked to invest. Bonobos first investment came from over 40 people and raised $750,000. This was in the summer of 2007, and later that same year they packed 400 pairs of pants and moved the company to NYC.

That October Bonobos.com launches and following an article in UrbanDaddy, their site went down from the demand. It brought in the most sales they had seen, $2,000. Though the site had only been launched two months, Bonobos does over $100,000 in sales their first year. With a growing following and NYC as a hub, Bonobos has over 5,000 customers and sales of 12,000 pairs of pants. At this point, this is the companies only offering, soon to be expanded with the offering of shorts, tops, accessories, and golf. The company went on to raise $124 million dollars through 4 different rounds of financing.

It was during the Summer of 2009 Brian Spaly left the company, only to go out and found TrunkClub. As the sole CEO, Dunn ran the company with technology at the forefront, hiring an ex-Netflix engineer to craft a recommendation engine for customers of Bonobos. This technology became the central piece to Bonobos and they went on to deliver a technology led, personal in-store experience through their Guidestores. With a new perspective on the customer, Bonobos continued to expand, creating a partnership with Nordstrom to distribute in all 118 stores during April of 2012. With this rise in retail Bonobos increase sales both online and offline for multiple stores they operated and through the use of store-within-a-store concepts around the country. In June of 2015, the star of retail had sold 1,000,000 pairs of chinos. The company has only continued its unique march down the retail road, but how did it all happen and how can you benefit from their lessons?

Some Quick Numbers

Digitally Native Brand Launch

Other than the few pairs of chinos Andy and Brian slung out of their trunk and pants parties, the retail brand was launched entirely online. At the time this was one of if not the first brand to exclusively launch online. With the early success of their online site, however, it proved the model could work. I wanted to understand why, but these are the three things I have come to discover about why Bonobos worked so well online:

A true understanding of the customer needs- In the same way Lululemon fashions it product around the consumer, Bonobos has first looked to their customer, then to a product or distribution. This has afforded them a unique spot in the customer's mind. Their formula for who a customer is can be summed up best by this chart (from Lightspeed Venture Partners) above which describes where the brand fits. This fits well with the technology they use to make it easier for their customers to purchase online, from a store, and through select stores.

In the same way Lululemon fashions it product around the consumer, Bonobos has first looked to their customer, then to a product or distribution. This has afforded them a unique spot in the customer's mind. Their formula for who a customer is can be summed up best by this chart (from Lightspeed Venture Partners) above which describes where the brand fits. This fits well with the technology they use to make it easier for their customers to purchase online, from a store, and through select stores. Bonobos is catering to an experience first audience- Unlike traditional retail outlets, Bonobos requires a 1-hour appointment with a customer so they can come in the store to try on many various items with a personal stylist the whole time. This cuts down on numbers in the store and makes it feel personalized. The Bonobos experience has brilliantly paved the way for the customers who would go so far as to book an appointment, it truly shows you the power of keeping to your niche. This experience is all aided by a network of internal software and algorithms that A) coordinate the product showings with this person's local guideshop and B) pulls together a complete history of the customer's purchase habits and past buying experiences to deliver only the most tailored suggestions for customers.

Unlike traditional retail outlets, Bonobos requires a 1-hour appointment with a customer so they can come in the store to try on many various items with a personal stylist the whole time. This cuts down on numbers in the store and makes it feel personalized. The Bonobos experience has brilliantly paved the way for the customers who would go so far as to book an appointment, it truly shows you the power of keeping to your niche. This experience is all aided by a network of internal software and algorithms that A) coordinate the product showings with this person's local guideshop and B) pulls together a complete history of the customer's purchase habits and past buying experiences to deliver only the most tailored suggestions for customers. Bonobos benefits from true omnichannel capability- Front heir use of AI, to their ability to convert customers in store only through an online interface, is something rarely happening in retail. This is only possible with the right technology, and yes, they do use a logic-based commerce system, similar to Epic Commerce to run their operations, right down to triggering the right top to wear with the chinos just recently purchased. Their smooth online presence drives customers down a slick marketing funnel and keeps customers captivated to buy through easy checkout, and even simpler, subtle hints that you may be able to go try this all on in a store nearby. They have cleverly put the two channels to work helping both sides, and it is clearly working out.





Technology Enabled with AI

Bonobos have gone out of their way to make the buying process as easy as possible. A major factor in this ability to convert customers has been the algorithms behind the product being suggested and recommended to customers. Their success in connecting past purchase history and search within the site has led to an intelligent way of arranging product choices to match with your preferences. This being said, the combination of true online and offline uses of technology was what I found most interesting. They have a unique ability to cross over the technology and in-store experience, especially through the online appointment maker. As you can see in the image below, they have put in the right steps necessary to make it an experience for the consumer as opposed to a hassle. This approach also shows to consumers that you respect their time, which, as stated in the chart above, is one of the biggest factors in males shopping utility.

Step 1: Get the customer click your button. Use a beautiful image of the experience and simple messaging.

Step 2: Figure the customer out, what is their need? Great use of location detection

Step 3: Choose the most convenient location near you

Step 4: Select a convenient Day and Time

Step 5: Grab Customers Detailed Psychographic information regarding shopping habits, and goal of this appointment

That's it. You know, after going through it, it does feel like your booking something exclusive. This has been a fantastic way of bringing someone into the Bonobos retail experience where you have a dedicated customer coming in, to discover their best options with you. The use of technology experiences which lead to something emotional and fun is the future of commerce and merging the two. Experiences run the new generation. It's an easy way to cut through the clutter if you can provide a positive buying method with the right technology to make it feel seamless.

Furthermore, Bonobos uses the information from appointments, to fuel their CRM capabilities. The technology which goes behind this are the algorithms from Mike Hart, the man behind algorithms used in Netflix's sorting of movies. With this algorithm and use of machine learning and artificial intelligence, the team was able to match up clever patterns between users purchasing decisions and what they might be most interested in next. All along the way, this algorithm, very similar to the algorithms being utilized in Epic Commerce, continues to improve the customer profile, sorting the clothing to present a personalized option for this consumer. The magic of doing this has been further enabled by the experience a customer receives through an omnichannel offering unlike any other.

On a side note, it was interesting to me that Bonobos did not include a search functionality within their website, which could help toward improving the AI results.

Smooth Online and Offline Experience

When buying from Bonobos, someone who has never bought before is transformed into a customer through a slick and simple checkout onboarding process. After confirming an order, Bonobos will send a series of emails notifying you of nearby Guideshops who will help you select the next most appropriate fit in clothing and style. Even as I write, you can barely tell where the online talk and offline talk leave off, since it is just as smooth in the Bonobos site.

For a shopper new to Bonobos, it is a very elegant yet simple feel to it. This is now 10 years since the start of their online site, and their product variety has increased, but it is still very simple. Clicking around on the site will bring you to various head categories such as bottoms, tops, outerwear etc, but on the inside, it is nicely displayed with a large high-quality image of the product, listings down below, and the subcategories in between. This is convenient for shoppers. I will point out however, they left the navigation on the left side of the page, but product filters and subcategories could have been left in a "Float" position to follow the user. This could have also been aided by a "smart search". Nonetheless, as you'll see below the checkout process was very smooth:

On "Adding to Cart" the side menu appears with cart items. Simple and nice looking, this is a good design for a cart.

As a guest, clicking Checkout will bring up a simple email capture, important for the artificial intelligence system to capture this right off.

A few more details to continue filling out your profile, making the user ease into the data entry as opposed to multiple form fields all at once.

Upon completing this, a three-part form appears confirming all the right next steps to checkout. It is elegant in design, taking advantage of critical UI elements to keep users moving through to complete checkout.

Upon completing the forms, you're ready to receive your package. This smooth process again does not feel as much of a hassle as it does a commerce experience. For the millennial crowd, this is what they want. An online experience with a top quality product, that can capture their attention through the whole process to see through to a purchase. After this purchase, the key is getting this customer to keep coming back. This is where the use of logic based commerce comes into play. Making time sensitive and relevant email messages related to product and category suggestions is how customers continue to come back. Something like logic based commerce through Epic Commerce can deliver this type of online experience and checkout process for customers. Inquire at orkiv.com. Herein lies the role of the Guideshops.

First eCommerce Guideshop

Ahh, the Gudieshop, that online experience that helps you get to a store where someone tailors to you, uncovering your favorite fashions trends you didn't even know you liked until you arrived? What? Yeah, that's what customers react like to. It's something truly emotional in the experience of setting up a VIP appointment to get fitted for some clothing which is, for the quality, reasonably priced, and can be delivered to my doorstep in minutes. Through this empowered and energized feeling the booking experience provides, customers, stay with the brand. You wonder where, all the retail space will be going when Sears, JCPenney, Macy's and more close their doors? It will be going to places like this which provide a buying experience, facilitating your connection to the brand, rather than simply competing with the online cousin. The Guideshops are a place to gain insight on a customer. In a business that typically has no more than 3-4 purchases from a very loyal customer, improving this metric is in the e-retailers best interest. So far, it seems to have been working.

The journey through retail for Bonobos has been nothing short of amazing. Their innovation in the way omnichannel retail should work is something many companies can learn from. They have crafted out a niche market, matched it with a rich technical and in-store experience, and made millennials feel tailored in their own right. It is a business model that is sure to have continued success long into the future, with competition from others copying the style. It is always the most innovative ideas in retail which take off. For many now, it comes down to a technology game, how will your technology go on to win more customers, faster and more frequently than anyone else. The answer may lay in Epic Commerce, with logic and AI being used throughout, you are able to build a strong retail and online brand, drawing together an experience unlike none other, without limitations from your commerce system to hold you back. As always email a specialist@orkiv.com if you have questions on the content or leave a comment, like, share etc.

Sources;

https://bonobos.com/guideshop

http://cargocollective.com/joychen/Reinventing-Retail-A-Bonobos-Case-Study

https://thehustle.co/bonobos-andy-dunn