Ralph Lauren Launches Digital Platform, First Luxury Store in Canada
Ralph Lauren is expanding its Canadian presence, launching a dedicated e-commerce platform along with its first luxury brick-and-mortar store in the country.
The company’s digital commerce site, RalphLauren.ca, will feature the complete brand portfolio – Purple Label, Ralph Lauren Collection, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, and Lauren – and will offer accessories, footwear, and select home items for men, women, and children.
While the platform – launching October 11 – will initially be in English, the company sad it's exploring the possibility of launching a French-language version of the site in Quebec at a later time.
“We look forward to serving our consumers throughout Canada with enhanced and elevated experiences that reflect our luxury lifestyle point of view,” said Bob Ranftl, regional CEO for North America at Ralph Lauren Corp.
Ralph Lauren's New Digital, DTC Direction
The company has made digital expansion and DTC a strategic area of focus of late. In an earnings call earlier this year, senior leaders revealed the company had added 1 million new consumers to its direct-to-consumer business during the fourth quarter, reaching a total of 5 million new DTC consumers this fiscal year. On the social media side, the company also reached 52 million followers across the globe.
“Our direction of travel from a strategic standpoint is to pivot the company further into DTC,” said CEO Patrice Louvet at the time. “Our DTC today is about 63%, 64% of [revenue] for the total company. And as we guided during Investor Day [in September 2022], we expect the numbers to be north of that in the coming years.”
Company leaders also said they would be continuing to leverage early learnings from existing artificial intelligence use cases to test generative AI across a range of business functions, including inventory optimization, forecasting, consumer engagement, copy editing, graphics, and even computer programming making it all the more of a strategic imperative to fast-track digitization efforts and build in channels to gather first and zero-party data.
The Toronto store will feature an array of Ralph Lauren products, but will also offer private styling appointments, alterations and repairs, and made-to-measure tailoring. The company said it plans to add more stores in Canada in the coming years to increase its foothold in North America.
