Nigel Cabourn is a fashion brand created by British designer Nigel Cabourn, and is popular all over the world. In Japan, the brand was mainly sold in brick-and-mortar stores, but the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the brand to start a B2C e-commerce business. We are providing support to the brand.
This time, we spoke with Watanabe Yuki, Manager of the IT Marketing Department at Outer Limits Inc., about what prompted them to start their e-commerce business and what they have done so far.
- table of contents
- Who is Nigel Cabourn?
- What prompted you to start EC?
- Why we are a partner
- Initiatives with commerce media
- EC renewal and after
- Expectations for commerce media
- lastly
Who is Nigel Cabourn?
--Nigel Cabourn is popular worldwide and has many fans in Japan as well, but may I first ask you what kind of brand it is?
Watanabe: Yes. It is a brand launched by British designer Nigel Cabourn. He is originally a world-famous vintage collector himself, so he creates his own unique designs based on his own various collections.
So, although Nigel Cabourn is a British brand, we also manufacture our products in Japan. For example, our original fabrics, which require high sewing techniques, are made in Japan, and sweaters and other items are made in the UK, which is a major wool producer. We work together to think about where is the best place to manufacture our products.
High quality items with attention to detail
Watanabe: Currently, due to the effects of COVID-19, the number of meetings has decreased slightly, but Nigel himself would normally come to Japan four times a year and spend several days discussing each season.
──I see. It makes sense that the brand has a unique worldview and the quality of its products is very high. You also have physical stores in various parts of Japan, right?
Watanabe: Yes, we have 10 stores in Japan. We have stores in the Kanto region, Sendai, Osaka, Okayama, Fukuoka, and other areas. We recently opened a store in Kichijoji, Tokyo.
Compared to the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, inbound customers have returned to a large extent, and our brick-and-mortar stores are doing very well. Our flagship store in Nakameguro is particularly impressive. Of course, we also have an EC site, but if you have a store near you, we'd love for you to stop by and check it out.
Flagship store in Nakameguro (Nigel Cabourn THE ARMY GYM)
What prompted you to start EC?
──You mentioned the word "EC" earlier. What prompted you to start up an e-commerce site while you already have physical stores?
Watanabe: It was COVID-19 that triggered it. It started to have a big impact on our physical stores, so we decided to launch an EC site. At first, we were using a different platform, but we had a brand site that Commerce Media had originally built for us on Shopify, so we thought we would add EC functionality to it and brush it up.
──That's right. In fact, when we first created the brand site, we had in mind adding an EC function later, so the process went smoothly.
The initial brand website was also created using Shopify
Watanabe: I see. I think we were able to start our EC business very quickly. I'm glad we used Shopify (laughs).
After starting with Shopify, I struggled at first with the unfamiliar operation of the e-commerce site, but gradually I was able to earn sales. Now, e-commerce has become one of my main businesses alongside my physical store.
──That's wonderful. We've been accompanying you in the operation of the EC site all this time, so we've been able to see firsthand how your efforts have borne fruit one after another.
Watanabe: Thank you very much. However, we want to continue to grow our EC business, so we need to keep working hard and not be satisfied.
Why we are a partner
-- Commerce Media has been in business with you since your company was founded, so we have been supporting your company for quite some time. What is it about our company that you have come to trust as a partner?
Watanabe: The fact that their motivations are very similar to ours. In the case of Commerce Media, they never say "No" to various requests. They never just say "I can't do it". Even in cases where the request is difficult, they come up with alternative ideas and somehow work together to find a solution, which is very helpful.
We have similar values, so it's great that we can think like this together. There's no other reason than that (laughs).
Left: Taisei from our company Right: Mr. Watanabe
-- I couldn't be happier to hear those words. It's encouraging because this is something that our entire company is consciously working on.
Watanabe: Your company not only helps us with website production but also with advertising management, and everyone there has the same motivation, so I'm able to work comfortably.
We are novices not only when it comes to EC but also when it comes to IT, and there are many things we don't understand, but the fact that we can easily ask for advice via chat is a big plus in such cases.
Initiatives with commerce media
--Based on the support we've provided so far, let us ask you about your impressions of our work and the service we provide.
Watanabe: As I mentioned earlier, they mainly support the creation and maintenance of websites. They provide total support for the websites we handle, including the corporate websites for Nigel Cabourn, Filson, 1415+2, and The Outer Limits.
Supports EC sites such as FILSON
Watanabe: Specifically, they are building the entire site, updating the site after release, and creating new pages. They are also deeply involved from the design stage when it comes to adding features, such as whether to introduce a Shopify app or develop it ourselves. Commerce Media actually runs the site on Shopify, so we appreciate their suggestions that take into account the hassle of future updates.
--That's right. For example, Nigel Cabourn's e-commerce site has a lot of original content, such as blogs and styling photos of staff, but we added those elements to the content you requested and proposed a design that also took into consideration the simplicity of updates.
Emphasis on ease of managing original content
Watanabe: Yes. Thanks to you, we were able to update without any problems. Also, since your company also handles the back-office operations related to orders and shipping, we appreciate that you are able to identify concerns about back-office processing after the release and address them at the production stage. It's reassuring to know that we can rely on you when any problems actually occur.
──Thank you. Our company is involved in almost all areas of EC, so I think our strength is being able to provide consistent support without being bound by frameworks. What about your other initiatives?
Watanabe: We also receive operational support for Google Ads. Initially, they would suggest ways to advertise to customers so that they would not miss out on any EC leads, but now they have expanded their reach a little and are focusing on how many new customers they are able to reach. They provide strategy support such as campaigns and bidding tailored to the customer's objectives, and provide analysis and improvement reports to help us decide on a course of action.
Make concrete proposals based on the report
Watanabe: We didn't know anything about advertising, so we were grateful that they didn't just do what we asked them to do, but also offered various suggestions like "Let's try this next time." We want to keep trying different things.
──Thank you. We of course propose advertising strategies and indicators to monitor after properly understanding the issues and needs, but we also try to approach it as a single "line" toward the goal, rather than proposing "points" for each part. We make proposals from various angles, taking advantage of our knowledge, so that we can take on various challenges.
EC renewal and after
──As part of our various initiatives, we relaunched the Nigel Cabourn e-commerce website in 2023. What was the background behind this renewal?
Watanabe: There are three: "Increasing EC sales," "Optimizing the site structure," and "Making it easier to manage, including updates."
Nigel Cabourn has both men's and women's clothing, and originally they were presented on the same site with separate top pages for each. Because the men's line is the main entry point for traffic, this was the reason why female customers had difficulty finding the products, and there were reviews saying that the pages were too complicated and confusing, so we wanted to do something about the site structure.
Initially, the top page was divided
Watanabe: And ease of operation. We are a small team of elites who manage updates and other operations, so we wanted to reduce the burden as much as possible and use that time for other things. We thought that if we could improve these aspects, we could expect sales to increase.
──The original site was created 5 or 6 years ago, and had a lot of unique customizations because Shopify's functions were not yet fully developed.
Watanabe: Yes. So it was difficult to update and we had to ask your company for help every time. We couldn't do it ourselves, so it was a little difficult.
--That's true. However, nowadays you can do a lot with Shopify. So when we were renewing the site, we were very conscious of making full use of meta objects and meta fields so that you could do almost all the updates yourself, and also make it easier to update product registrations and unique content.
Product registration using metafields
Watanabe: Yes. With the renewal, we simplified the design and presentation of the product flow, making it easier for customers to find products, and we believe we have also made updates smoother.
──Thank you. How is the situation going after the renewal?
Watanabe: Unlike before, we use metafield functions to register products and create content such as blogs, so there are some difficulties with the new way of doing things (laughs).
However, we can handle everything in-house, and even the parts that seemed difficult were made much smoother thanks to the detailed manual they created. Anyone can do it the same way, so there's no difference in the quality of the content, and it's all good in the end.
We also create and provide manuals
Watanabe: Also, since the renovation, the "stay time" of our customers has increased significantly. We have a lot of visitors from overseas as well as from within Japan, and overall, we have seen a significant improvement. This has had a positive impact on our sales.
--That's great! I think our simplified review of the site structure and navigation design is paying off, so I'm very relieved.
Watanabe: We've also had a lot of praise from our stakeholders and customers, who say, "It's a really good website." The design has been especially well-received, with a simple and easy-to-understand worldview while still maintaining the brand image. There are really only good things about it.
A newly reborn e-commerce site
Expectations for commerce media
──Finally, what are your expectations for Commerce Media in the future?
Watanabe: Nothing in particular (laughs). I hope that you will continue to accompany us with the same perspective as before, and that we can think about various things together. In addition to strengthening our business in the future, we have many goals that we would like to achieve, so I would appreciate your cooperation in making them a reality.
Although it is a different website, we were able to release the renewal of 1415+2 with your cooperation. We will continue to ask for various things, including website creation, so we would appreciate your help.
The 1415+2 renewal was also released.
──Thank you. Of course, we will continue to do our best to be a better partner than ever. This concludes the interview. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today.
Mr. Watanabe: Thank you very much.
lastly
This time, we interviewed Mr. Watanabe, who runs Nigel Cabourn. At the end, we would like to introduce the brand's EC site and popular products. If you are interested, please take a look.
*As this is a brand with a huge number of fans, we apologize if the item is sold out.
The product that Watanabe-san owns above is the " M43 Type Work Jacket - Hemp Denim " and is apparently very popular.
Other popular items include the " Army Cargo Pants " and the classic " 9.5 oz Basic T-shirt ."
