Flush with the success of its direct-to-consumer efforts, Levi Strauss & Company (Canada) has taken its customer relationship strategy to a whole new level with the national launch of a new catalogue encompassing all of the company’s brands.
Titled Valencia Street in honor of the San Francisco location of Levi Strauss’ oldest operating facility in North America, the catalogue for the first time positions the Levi’s, SilverTab, Dockers and Slates brands together under the Levi Strauss banner.
About 100,000 copies of Valencia Street have been sent out in time for for back-to-school shopping.
Shelley Nandkeolyar, director of consumer relationships for Levi Strauss in Canada, says, ‘Not only does the catalogue present the consumer with a look, style and feel across the various brands, but it also does significant brand building, because you never see this kind of pulled-together look anywhere in retail.
It’s an incredible tool in terms of getting consumers to think about how they might wear things together, as well as perceive the brand in a more complete perspective.’
Valencia Street will be published four to six times a year. Nandkeolyar says a second issue will be mailed to about 400,000 households in time for the December holiday period and by March it will be rolled out to an even larger base.
While catalogue retailing in Canada is dominated by u.s. companies such as Lands’ End, Nandkeolyar says the Levi Strauss catalogue has an advantage in that Canadian customers can buy in Canadian dollars, avoid customs duties and, with this first offering, get free shipping and handling.
While orders can be placed by phone or fax, Nandkeolyar says customers are being encouraged to use the company’s secure e-commerce site accessed through www.levistraussdirect.ca or www.lsdirect.com/vs.
‘We’re giving them a combination of strategies to explore,’ says Nandkeolyar, who likens the e-commerce experiment to ‘giving birth to a new channel of distribution’.
All orders are sent tissue-wrapped in attractive packaging with a personalized letter to the customer.
Levi Strauss began its relationship marketing strategy about two years ago when it set up a Consumer Intimacy group (see ‘PostScript,’ page D4, Strategy DirectResponse, second section.)
It’s an experiment that evolved into a focus on e-commerce, launched this May when the company introduced the Slates brand of men’s pants to Canada solely through telephone and Internet sales channels.
Nandkeolyar says the market acceptance and interest in the upscale Slates brand is consistent with what would have happened if the company had set up a couple of retail locations.
‘Slates has been the No. 1 draw to our Web site. In fact, in the last couple of months, it has been by far the biggest seller for us on the e-commerce side.
Within the next couple of months, Nandkeolyar says the company will be able to add another component to its e-commerce activity – namely, filtering tools that will allow consumers to have an individualized Levi Strauss Web page built around their specific clothing preferences and sizes.
He says this will further nurture relationships with consumers by allowing them to order their favorite styles and enabling Levi Strauss to recommend products and accessories based on those preferences.
