La Redoute uses reviews to help customers buy with confidence

La Redoute reinvents its customer strategy using Bazaarvoice

La Redoute, a ready-to-wear fashion and home décor retailer, has established itself as one of the largest French ecommerce players following years of steady growth and the acquisition of Galeries Lafayette in 2018. Already in twenty-six countries with a revenue growth of 750 million euros since 2016, much of the company’s continued success in strengthening its reputation internationally and increasing sales is a result of a digital transformation.

This transformation includes taking a customer-centric approach by using user-generated content (UGC) to turn consumers into advocates.

Reviews help customers buy with confidence

La Redoute uses Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews to collect product reviews from customers and display them on its ecommerce site, which lets shoppers see what other consumers think about the products before buying online or in stores.

“Implementing our UGC program was a fundamental step in our client-centric strategy. While 90% of our sales are made online, the UGC responds perfectly to the immediacy of the customer purchasing and sharing behavior,” explains Marie Mercier, Digital Experience Director at La Redoute.

Shoppers who read the reviews are more likely to buy, evidenced by an increase in online conversion rate since launching the programme in 2016. Not only can La Redoute monitor this positive impact on sales, but the programme also helps La Redoute develop and maintain a relationship with its customers.

“Having these online conversations gives customers reassurance and promotes our commitment to our website, our brand, and our brand partners,” said Marie Mercier.

Many of the reviews are collected through the company’s mobile application, L’Atelier La Redoute.

Bazaarvoice network provides significant review volume

To increase the number of reviews, La Redoute also leverages the Bazaarvoice network of more than 6,000 brand and retail sites to automatically collect reviews originally written on brand sites. In fact, 30% of the more than 800,000 reviews on La Redoute’s site have come directly from hundreds of brands that sell on the retailer site. This increase both the number of reviews per product and the number of products with at least one review.

“The next step will be allowing La Redoute customers to ask questions on the site through Bazaarvoice and providing those customers with tailored, customized responses from the retailer or from the brands. These exchanges will help to deepen customer knowledge of La Redoute across Europe and Russia,” says Anthony Marino, Senior Solution Consultant at Bazaarvoice.