TAILORED BRANDS LINKS WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE START-UP TO LAUNCH NEW PROGRAM

Tailored Brands: Men's Wearhouse Live
by Stephen Garner

Tailored Brands: Men's Wearhouse LiveTailored Brands and its subsidiaries, Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, have announced a new partnership with omni-channel sales start-up Hero to launch a phased rollout of a customer service experience called Men’s Wearhouse LIVE! and Jos. A. Bank LIVE!.

Through this new technology, online customers will be able to access live guidance from in-store wardrobe consultants with shoppable content such as imagery, chat, and live video, finding answers to their questions, advice on what to buy, and solutions that meet their unique needs. Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank in-store wardrobe consultants, in turn, will be empowered to offer white-glove service through initial online discovery in an effort to increase online sales and in-store traffic and drive incremental revenue.

“We have always been committed to delivering world class customer service with expertly guided, easy and personalized shopping experiences,” said Doug Ewert, CEO of Tailored Brands. “With the help of Hero’s technology, Tailored Brands will be the first men’s specialty retailer in North America to offer that same level of customer service to online customers. This is especially important in tailored clothing where fit, touch, quality and versatility are top consumer concerns and are especially difficult to convey online. Although still in beta, Men’s Wearhouse LIVE! and Jos. A. Bank LIVE! are potential game changers.”

After launching a pilot program of this service in 2017 in various key markets across the United States, Tailored Brands saw an impressive double digit lift in average order value and a dramatic conversion rate increase prompting an aggressive phased rollout. By September of 2018, over 3,000 Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank wardrobe consultants will be connected making Tailored Brands the first enterprise retailer to launch Hero on such a scale.

“We are constantly looking to take our business to the next level and partnering with groundbreaking start-ups like Hero is a key part of our innovation strategy,” commented Ben Baum, executive vice president of customer experience and chief digital officer at Tailored Brands. “Hero’s platform is the ideal complement to our customer service model, allowing us to improve the omnichannel experience for our Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank customers. Through real-time messaging and content shot live from the shop floor, associates will serve their online customers in a way that will allow them to personalize the shopping experience, just like they do in-store. No one else in the market is as well-positioned to deliver a seamless omnichannel customer experience as we are because we have the ability to leverage our existing, expertly trained in-store wardrobe consultants.”

Alistair Crane, CEO of Hero added, “Today, billions of square feet of physical retail space is siloed from the fast-growth world of e-commerce. We are thrilled to be working with such iconic menswear brands as Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank to create an entirely new shopping experience that connects their stores, teams and digital shoppers like never before. Our partnership is redefining the role of their knowledgeable, passionate retail associates to be omnichannel, just like the customer of today.”