A U S T R A L I A’ S # 1 F O R S U R F & FA S H I O N
GROWING A GLOBAL
BUSINESS WITH MOBILE
THE STR ATEGY
Australian online sports apparel
and fashion retailer, SurfStitch is
Usablenet designed and
the world’s largest online sports
built a mobile experience to
apparel and fashion retailer.
incorporate best in class UX
The company represents more
(user experience), support for
than 500 brands and offers its
promotions, personalization,
fashion-conscious 15-35 year
social functionality, and checkout.
old customers a choice of over
20,000 products across a number
SurfStitch chose to partner
of different genres, including surf
with Usablenet because of its
wear, sportswear, street fashion
extensive experience in creating
and accessories.
unique mobile solutions, and
its ability to scale to multiple
SurfStitch realized early in
countries and support large
its journey as a brand that it
traffic volumes. The Usablenet
needed a mobile site to meet
platform currently supports over
the changing expectations
500 mobile implementations
of customers. SurfStitch’s
and delivers more than 100
first mobile site had limited
million pages per day across
functionality. The first site
220 countries. The platform
quickly proved the importance of having a site with full ecommerce
comfortably supports traffic
functionality to support the brand across multiple markets.
volumes over peak periods such
as Black Friday or Boxing Day.
T H E CHALLE NGE
SurfStitch’s diverse customer base presented a challenge in itself.
Co-Founder Justin Cameron explains, “We started our business in 2007,
which at the time focused primarily in the surf fashion space and then
transitioned into more of an unlimited sport, surf, fashion type model.
A task-based experience has optimized for touch and discovery to
allow SurfStitch to leverage the site as an integral part of its wider
marketing strategy. A sleek UI and UX design using the latest HTML5
technologies allows shoppers access to offers on the homepage,
search by visual tiles or keyword, access account, favorites, and buy
We broadly market to the fashion conscious 15 to 35 year olds within
and redeem gift cards.
Australia, and now in Europe. We have a pretty board spectrum of
Unlike many mobile sites, SurfStitch mobile home page is an
customer base now which we are trying to grow as quickly as we can.”
In order to appeal to a broad geographic and age range, SurfStitch
needed to offer a personalized, relevant and, most importantly,
important element in every mobile marketing campaign. The genius of
the homepage lies in Usablenet’s U-Control tool that allows SurfStitch
to dynamically manage the content, promotions and messaging
functional experience to all shoppers, regardless of location.
delivered via the mobile browser in real-time, without the need for
In late 2013 SurfStitch partnered with Usablenet, the leader in mobile
marketing plans, respond to customer insights, and ensure that its
and multi-channel technology, to develop a mobile optimized website
that could manage the huge number of products offered by the
company, and make it engaging and easily accessible for SurfStitch’s
customers across three continents.
developers. This tool gives SurfStitch the ability to be agile with its
mobile site is always relevant to consumers, fitting with changing
trends, purchasing habits – even the weather. As a result, SurfStitch’
mobile site has driven sales and increased customer engagement.
The site feeds into SurfStitch’ social media strategy, with each product
page featuring a social dropdown button to share to email and social
networks including Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. The product page
USABLENET // SURFSTITCH CASE STUDY — OCTOBER 2014
PAGE 1
also incorporates access to SurfStitch’ social channels — Facebook,
THE RESULTS
Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest. The social integration
Since the launch of SurfStitch’ new mobile optimized website in 2013,
encourages customers to enter into dialogue with the SurfStitch
brand and act as brand ambassadors to other potential customers.
mobile traffic has increased by 120%, and mobile revenue has grown
by 200% over the first mobile site.
A bespoke mobile experience
E X ECUT I ON
SurfStitch recognized that speed and convenience are priorities for
its customers – and are particularly important when the brand has
so much to offer. Right from the homepage, the mobile site displays
the primary shopping categories to make it as easy as possible for
customers to get to the relevant part of the online store. The home
page carousel, located at the top of the webpage, contains four
images with different promotional messages and calls to action.
that incorporates best in class
UX, social share functionality,
personalization, multiple
languages, optimized checkout and support social
promotions and events, can
deliver tangible value for a
brand and its customers.
Sub-menus are preloaded as
overlays to reduce the number of
page reloads and help users get to
the desired product quickly. Global
menus allow users to navigate the
site easily and backtrack quickly,
and two different view selections
are available on all product pages.
SurfStitch’ site makes it easy
for shoppers to move between
devices to complete a purchase.
Shoppers who previously selected
favorites and/or added items
to shopping carts from desktop,
mobile or tablet, can redeme their
basket easily from any device.
This feature gives SurfStitch’
customers the freedom to browse
and purchase how and when it is
most convenient for them.
Checkout has been streamlined to reduce the steps to purchase.
Addresses and preferred credit card info can be stored in order to
speed the checkout process for returning customers. PayPal has
been integrated within the mobile checkout to further reduce
the time to purchase. Customers can see pricing converted in the
currency of their choice.
SurfStitch’ mobile site is available in multiple languages based on
“We have created a successful, consistent
mobile shopping experience for our global
customers. Our mobile site is a critical part of
our marketing strategy and how we engage
with our fashion-conscious and highly mobilesavvy customers. Having a site that we can
manage and dynamically refresh ensures
that all our promotions and mobile content is
always relevant to our customers — whether
they are at the mall, or on the beach .”
— Martin Corr, Marketing Director, SurfStitch
user location and user choice. Customers accessing the website from
Australia will be served in English, while in users in the EU can choose
between 4 different languages (English, French, Spanish and German)
by scrolling to the bottom of the site and choosing their appropriate
language denoted by flags.
USABLENET // SURFSTITCH CASE STUDY — OCTOBER 2014
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