Coast, the niche high street fashion brand providing women with beautifully designed, quality clothing for special occasions, is to launch a new transactional website on Fresca Commerce; Coast will start selling online in May 2007.
Fresca Commerce has been selected as the e-commerce platform for Coast as a result of the outstanding success of other brands within the Mosaic Fashions group which are also running on Fresca Commerce: Warehouse, Principles, Oasis and The Shoe Studio. Fresca will work closely with Coast and their design agency POD1 to ensure the creative vision is accurately portrayed online. Fresca will develop the new website, as well as configure the platform and integrate it with Coast’s business systems.
The Fresca Commerce Platform will be configured to provide a shopping experience that faithfully articulates the Coast brand proposition. Customers will not only be able to search and shop by individual products and categories, but they will have the enhanced online experience of being able to shop by outfit and collection; making it easy and a pleasure to find the complete look for that special occasion.
Powerful and sophisticated in-site search and guided navigation will also be provided which will enable customers to filter by outfit style, size availability, colour, product type and other attributes.
Furthermore, to provide a truly seamless customer experience, and so only the available products are presented to the web customer, Fresca Commerce will be integrated with Mercatus buying and merchandising system from BT Expedite and with the systems of third-party logistics and fulfilment provider Amethyst. This tight integration will help Coast provide a timely and high quality customer service and facilitate easy management of the online catalogue.
Coast has enjoyed remarkable success since 2002 and has received several prestigious industry awards. Founded in 1996 and acquired by Oasis Stores Ltd in 1998, its rapid growth has established Coast as one of the UK’s most successful occasion wear brands. The business has expanded at a rate rarely experienced in the UK.
Coast is a niche brand and its strength is in providing women with beautifully designed, quality clothing for special occasions. All garments are exclusively designed in-house and demonstrate attention to detail with a distinct point of difference. Coast’s product, fabrication and styling allows the Coast customer to look and feel fabulous at a competitive price.
The performance of the brand and its unique positioning has attracted widespread attention on the UK retail market and it was awarded ‘Rising Star of 2003’ at the Retail Week Awards and ‘Smaller Fashion Multiple of the Year’ at the Drapers Record awards in 2005.
Coast currently trades from 46 solus stores and 163 concessions in the UK and Ireland. Internationally, Coast trades from 15 outlets through franchise partners in 8 countries.