Luxury apparel brand Dsquared2 has partnered with leading full-service digital commerce specialist Astound Commerce to launch a transformative new online flagship store to drive global direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales.
Founded by Canadian identical twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten, Dsquared2 is an Italian fashion house based in Milan. Its design philosophy, across men’s, women’s, and children’s wear, is an edgy mix of Canadian iconography and refined Italian tailoring. Stocked at owned concessions and wholesale at iconic outlets, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Harrods, and Seibu Ikeburo, Dsquared2 also operates 124 flagship stores in key fashion centres globally.
Eager to exercise complete ownership over its online storefront and ecommerce operations, Dsquared2 wanted to provide a high-touch, fully localised, and seamless online experience where ecommerce customers in every market enjoyed the same level of service and convenience they would enjoy if shopping locally to maximise its global D2C reach and revenue.
Dsquared2 chose to partner with Astound Commerce and ESW, the global D2C ecommerce leader, to execute its vision for an enhanced customer experience, embarking on a strategic partnership that has become the foundation of the brand’s digital evolution.
Dsquared2 required a very swift turnaround time to implement its D2C solution–just 16 weeks.
Astound leveraged its proprietary accelerator, Launch360: Storefront, to reduce cost and speed time to market for Dsquared2, upgrading its legacy Salesforce Commerce Cloud implementation to a fast, modern reference architecture.
Astound leveraged Launch360 documentation where possible to create a plan for a Dsquared2-specific storefront and applied similar lightweight methods to its design process to facilitate a smooth design transformation from Launch360 out-of-the-box into a unique product that would fit Dsquared2’s needs. To meet Dsquared2’s ambitious deadlines, Astound conducted discovery in parallel with the development process and began regression testing early in the development phase.
To deliver a more seamless shopping experience, ESW designed a go-live plan that would deliver Dsquared2’s D2C solution across the entire cross-border ecommerce value chain. The ESW solution focused on building trust and confidence with shoppers through a series of API integrations, beginning with a geo-triggered welcome mat with market-specific messaging and then reinforcing that commitment to the customer across multiple touchpoints, including checkout, payments gateway, outbound shipping with optimised delivery dates, and returns indicating local returns portals alongside customer support services and a brand new ESW supply chain solution.
Raffaele Nardo, chief digital officer at Dsquared2, commented: “We want to give our customers more from their digital experiences when shopping with us, matching as closely as possible the highly localised experience that they would be used to receiving in-store digitally, and that meant optimising every touchpoint in the online and post-purchase experience. Astound had both the technical knowledge and collaborative spirit needed to deliver this project within an ambitious timeframe. We’re delighted that our customers can enjoy an immersive online shopping journey, no matter where in the world they are shopping from.”
Emma Sahota, Managing Director, Astound Commerce UK, commented: “Dsquared2 recognised the need to address the rapidly evolving D2C demands of customers and embed these into its digital strategy. It was our pleasure to work collaboratively with all the project partners to create and integrate a best-of-breed tech stack that could live up to and exceed Dsquared2’s aspirations and create a platform that will ensure long-term success.”
Astound Commerce will continue to partner with Dsquared2 to drive forward customer engagement as Dsquared2 further delivers on its D2C ecommerce strategy.
