Who would have thought 30 years ago that a footwear retailer would need to do such a dramatic pivot to become one of the most digitally-connected brands out there? After all, shoes are about as real-world and tangible as they come –– you probably have a few good pairs that you stomp around town in and that’s it. Or rather, that’s how it used to be.

The ALDO Group realized early on that customers wanted a digital connection to their favorite brands. With so many choices and a lot of buying power, customers had options. And more shoes. They discovered that continued success meant expanding their ability to deliver product experiences that are relevant and personalized to their customers around the world. Customers wanted to be romanced, persuaded and, eventually, turned into loyal fans –– and lord knows, an easy purchasing process, a communicative customer service team, painless returns and continued perusal creates loyal fans; a behind-the-scenes process that requires an immense amount of content and digital power.

Daniel Morabito, the eCommerce product owner sums it up by saying, "in today's competitive landscape, offering a personal and relevant digital experience is crucial. The ALDO group needed a product that would scale with our ambitions.”

When you start to realize your CMS isn’t cutting it

When an enterprise starts their digital transformation, what comes next is fairly predictable. They start to realize their CMS, or CMSes if they are chugging away with multiple, aren’t cutting it. For the ALDO Group and their signature brands Call It Spring and GLOBO, it was their Callitspring.com launch that gave them a chance to try something new. They were concerned that their roundabout way of making content changes lost them time. There was also a lack of digital initiatives slowing them down; conditional content, bi-variate testing and personalization capabilities were all missing. With the race to provide excellent digital experiences, these roadblocks gave other competitive retailers the chance to pull into the lead.

They had a few key requirements for their content solution: it needed a robust feature list, security, easy implementation and a sterling reputation. You might have guessed, but Contentful was the perfect solution –– like they say, when the shoe fits. The ALDO Group implemented Contentful for all UI elements in Callitspring.com, Globoshoes.com and Aldoshoes.com.

Here’s just a few things the ALDO Group were able to do with Contentful. For a deeper look at the results, you can check out our case study.

• For large launches and initiatives, the marketing team can take care of content ahead of time and not worry about potential bugs or blockers related to the CMS.

• Since no deployments are needed, developer teams can focus on higher value initiatives as they move away from a content support role. Marketing teams also create content refreshes more efficiently.

• Time-to-publish has gone down significantly, because the marketing teams are able to create and implement continuously refreshed content.

Contentful has become a foundational piece of the ALDO Group’s content strategy going forward. We’re proud to be working with such a digitally-forward and growing brand. Interested in Contentful for your eCommerce enterprise brand? Why not let Contentful take care of your content. You can learn more about our eCommerce use cases.

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