1. Case Study
OUTDOOR & SPORTING GOODS
Brooks Builds
Long-Running Success
with Demandware
Hyper-focused on running, Brooks Running
Company has cultivated a running experience –
a combination of high-performance products, personal
service and a ‘Run Happy’ attitude – that has earned it the
leading position at specialty running stores.
Hoping to connect with runners across any digital device or channel, Brooks has built
a strong team and infrastructure to keep pace with runner’s evolving needs. Since
moving to the Demandware platform in 2010, Brooks has exponentially grown its
ecommerce team and online sales, recently launching a new responsive website in
conjunction with a brand refresh in January 2014.
“The new site was designed to elevate the digital experience for runners everywhere,”
says Meredith Han, Senior Director, Global eCommerce at Brooks. “Using responsive
web design, social integration and online tools, we are able to focus on better ways
to bring our products and services directly to runners, wherever they are.”
“With Demandware, we don’t have to worry about IT,” comments Han. “We can
remain 100% focused on what we do best – high-performance running gear made by
the best biomechanical experts in the field.”
ACCELERATING SITE PERFORMANCE AND THE USER EXPERIENCE
Since launching the responsive site and new brand presence in January 2014,
Brooks has created an optimized experience for mobile users while also improving
site performance and customer satisfaction.
Following the launch, Brooks achieved a double-digit improvement in conversion of
mobile shoppers compared with same time in 2013. While the ‘Shoe Advisor’ tool
quickly became one of the most used features of the website.
The Shoe Advisor is just one of the online tools implemented by Brooks to help
runners identify shoes that fit their needs. The ‘Switcheroo’ also allows runners to find
a shoe by entering information about the current model they run in.
• Reported half a billion
dollars in total global
revenue on a rolling
12-month basis as of
April 2014 1

2. Because Brooks believes in having customers run in their shoes to ensure a perfect
fit, the company has a ‘True Blue Guarantee’ – a no-questions-asked, free 30-day
return policy.
Brooks has also made it possible for satisfied runners to easily share and upload
pictures of their shoes or connect with Brooks’ growing global running community by
clicking on any of the social integration features on Brooksrunning.com.
THE TEAM AND TECHNOLOGY BEHIND IT ALL
These and many other enhancements have all been enabled by Demandware. As
Han explains: “The Demandware platform is highly adaptable and has seamlessly
powered our business growth and peaks in site traffic from day one.”
Since 2010, Brooks has successfully scaled and evolved its online business using
Demandware. “Demandware provides all the tools to deal with change, which is
incredibly powerful,” says Han. “For example, mobile was just a blip in 2009. If you
fast forward to today, it is a significant portion of our overall traffic and grows double
digit year over year.”
The Demandware community has also proved to be a valuable resource for Brooks
to evaluate partner vendors and trade notes with other retailers on subjects such as
channel traffic breakdown and what is reasonable to expect.
“The incredibly rich client community at Demandware has been a huge benefit,”
says Han. “Leveraging benchmark data and connecting with other clients of all sizes
and business models has definitely helped us from a resource and organizational
standpoint.”
CONTINUING FULL SPEED AHEAD
Brooks will continue to leverage Demandware to improve the user experience and
expand digital commerce regionally. Future plans include accelerated involvement and
engagement with internal subject matter experts and various functions at Brooks for
better product storytelling and presentation.
In early 2014, Brooks relocated its EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa)
headquarters to Amsterdam in a strategic shift to foster global growth. Demandware
will support Brooks in EMEA with ecommerce site launches that reflect local
language, culture and preferences.
“We know that Demandware will be able to grow with our business, providing best
practice advice and an ecommerce platform that will help us accelerate international
expansion and achieve peak market performance,” concludes Han.
[1] Source: http://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/05-16-2014.html
Case Study
OUTDOOR & SPORTING GOODS
• Achieved double-digit
mobile conversion
improvement with
launch of responsive
design and brand refresh
© 2014 Demandware, Inc. This document contains archival information which should not be considered current and may no longer be accurate. Approved for unlimited distribution.
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