Footwear Innovator Fits Perfectly into Content Cloud Solution

By Gary Eisenstein

October 18, 2019

Cloud, CMS, Content Management System, CoreMedia, digital content, Digital Experience, Headless CMS, omnichannel

When I last reviewed CoreMedia CMS (CoreMedia) in 2018 for my Fair Review of the Top Web CMS Platforms article, what stood out for me was how well-suited the platform seems to be for the B2C enterprise marketplace. The platform features a very comprehensive, easy-to-use editor and global feature-sets created for large-scale development. International organizations can manage multiple instances of websites locally which includes deep governance and permissions, smart multi-language and globalization, and variable code standards. This makes CoreMedia a good option for large, complex organizations that are required to build-standards across all channels and still have the flexibility for local IT teams to manage content within their own region. From the outside looking in, this seems like a perfect fit for Deckers Brands (Deckers), a company pushing the boundaries of innovation with their digital content and web marketing strategies.

Before we delve in further, let’s take a quick look back at this pioneering footwear company. In 1973, Deckers’ founders took a risk, followed a passion, and created a new kind of footwear. With its simple, yet innovative striped design, the first Deckers flip-flop took the surfing lifestyle market by storm and quickly grew into a mainstream staple. Today, Deckers is a global leader in designing, marketing, and distributing footwear, apparel, and accessories developed for both everyday casual lifestyle use and high-performance activities. With revenues of US$2 billion worldwide, the company’s portfolio of brands includes UGG®, Koolaburra by UGG®, HOKA ONE ONE®, Teva®, and Sanuk®. Their loyal consumer base can purchase from select department and specialty stores, company-owned and operated retail stores, and select online stores, including company-owned websites.
 
Deckers needed a solution that could immediately connect to their eCommerce platform. The real‐time integrations produced by CoreMedia provides the ‘missing content piece’ for eCommerce platforms and enables customers to deliver new content and functionality quickly. Customers can create next‐generation storefronts and content‐rich, buyable brand sites that combine real‐time product information with multimedia marketing content.
 
Deckers found that the CoreMedia Content Cloud platform, and the company as a whole, provided the best match for their specific needs. Based in Hamburg, Germany with offices worldwide, CoreMedia Content Cloud is an open, best-of-breed, API-driven content solution that combines a headless content management repository and an omnichannel delivery engine with an advanced user interface that facilitates the real-time composition and preview of complex, front-end customer experiences across different digital channels and devices. It’s also well worth mentioning that CoreMedia was included in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms.
 
Critical factors in Deckers’ decision included enterprise-level multinational capabilities, modular omnichannel architecture, and confidence in the abilities of an experienced CoreMedia team. After signing on to the hosted CoreMedia Content Cloud solution, the entire project moved very quickly; just two months from project start to initial site launch, with all of the implementation heavy-lifting being done by the Deckers’ in-house team. "We picked CoreMedia after researching multiple content management systems for a couple of years," said Brian Fortier, Senior Digital Product Manager at Deckers. "What stood out about CoreMedia was how easy it was for merchandisers to drag and drop both content and products from different repositories to quickly provide new customer experiences. The learning curve for a non-technical user was really easy."
 
Deckers used the CoreMedia Content Cloud platform solution as a centralized content management and experience orchestration engine. It allowed Deckers to reuse content more efficiently across brands and regions, decreasing time to market for personalized shoppable content experiences, and empowering marketers to respond to ever-changing customer demands rapidly. CoreMedia worked closely with Deckers to define business rules around personalization then developed a solution that could be implemented quickly. Deep integrations with the commerce platform meant that fast access to multiple data sources and easy-to-use publishing tools enabled quick creation and preview of various buyer scenarios.
 
“Deckers has always been more than just a footwear company. We believe in innovation and about doing things better for our customers and community,” said Brian Fortier. “With this solution, we can not only meet our business goals faster, but we can provide our customers with personalized, frictionless, and deeply satisfying shopping experiences on any device.”
 
The scope of the Deckers project included having all five brands deployed on the CoreMedia platform with a mobile-first solution high on the list of priorities. With content teams located all over the world, they not only needed a solution that could help them deploy globally, but they also wanted to launch the new functionality on an aggressive timeline.

In less than sixty days, Deckers launched its first omnichannel website, www.ugg.com, built on CoreMedia’s robust, cloud-based java CMS solution. The new system facilitated the global footwear company in streamlining the content creation process. It improved time-to-market by overhauling the content management and distribution processes, making it easier for Deckers to deliver content-rich shopping experiences to multiple regions and websites without total dependence on IT development resources.
 
"We’re incredibly excited to be working for a brand with such a stellar reputation for best-in-class capabilities, product quality, and corporate responsibility," said Sören Stamer, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder at CoreMedia. "We’re confident CoreMedia Content Cloud will help them expand their brand presence, innovate faster, and deliver even more engaging shopping experiences to their global customers — regardless of language, region, or brand."
 

Gary Eisenstein

Gary has been working in the IT industry since 1993 and is the Principal Analyst at CMS-Connected, and the Founder and President of Falcon-Software. If you would like advice on how to evaluate a "best-fit" digital experience solution for your organization, Gary can be reached at gary.eisenstein@cms-connected.com.