In talks with Michelle Harriman Smith of Childrensalon

With the children’s luxury sector having seen phenomenal growth in the last couple of years and some of fashion’s biggest houses recently launching Kidswear collections, FashionUnited caught up Michelle Harriman-Smith, creative director and founder

of Childrensalon. As the UK’s largest online children’s fashion retailer, initially launched in 1999, but having seen tripled turnover since 2009, Childrensalon has recently made a number of significant investments in technology to cater for the recent growth spurt.

FU: How did you come to launch Childrensalon online in 1999?
MHS: My husband and our creative Director, who at the time was a graphic artist working in advertising, was keen to develop technically advanced digital media solutions for the internet. To explore this field, he built me a website based around the successful Childrensalon shop in Royal Tunbridge Wells, which first opened in 1952. We contacted our large customer base, many of whom were international and working in London. Our aim was to give the same excellent service on our website that we had in our shop. We already had a database of customers we sent to by mail order - this quickly mushroomed, and soon the success of the website meant that we had people visit our store from as far as Japan, Canada, Iceland, USA and Hong Kong.

FU: Why do you think the online children’s market has seen such speedy growth?
MHS: The growth in the children’s online market has been similar to other online markets but as right from the early days Childrensalon has been seen as trusted company with real family values. Our growth has been driven through hard work, an experienced team and large investment in all our technology and warehousing.

FU:As the largest UK online children’s fashion retailer, how have you kept yourself niche?
MHS:We are not niche as such, we are just focusing on our key strengths and 60 year heritage. Unlike for example ASOS who came and went as they realised their core skills were in adult fashion, we have always and only served the children’s market and our understanding of our customer’s needs have been built over many generations. We're passionate about serving this market, as we have done for 60 years. This sets it aside from investment led companies that are simply trying to make profit.

FU: Why did you decide the time was right to implement these new technological developments?
MHS: The core skills existed in the family so the obvious strategy was to grow and develop online. However, as growth continued, it quickly became apparent that ecommerce required a variety of new skills. Within three years we had employed an IT Director and we have spent over a decade developing our ecommerce expertise. New technological developments have totally been led by our striving to get the best processes into all our operations, so we can look after our customers, their total experience, our products, our data quality and our continuing growth plan.

FU: Can you give me a main overview of some of the latest and enhanced features; who are you most looking to target?
MHS: Childrensalon is customer-led so developments have been targeted to improving the all-round customer experience. For example, we have 100% secure shopping at all times with advanced searching filters and navigation browsing. Multiple languages and currencies. Sophisticated customer accounts, points and rewards system, wish lists, gift lists, previews and cross-sells. Multiple delivery and payment options. Mobile, tablet and social networking friendly. We also major on our data quality, ensuring that what's presented online is accurate in every way; it's in stock and available in a clean, organised environment and can be delivered accordingly. We have a continual rolling stock-take in our warehouse to ensure this and we continue to invest, develop and enhance all our warehousing, merchandising and fulfillment technology.

FU:How do you see these developments as being of ongoing success?
MHS: We have constantly been developing our skills and technology since 1999 as a multi-brand online retailer. With our multi-functional website and systems, we can flex to meet the changing needs of customers. Childrensalon offers the largest range of products with excellent customer service. Our technical developments have always been customer-led with the aim of giving an enjoyable and easy shopping experience, whilst facilitating the right, informed product choice. If a customer chooses to place an order, we make sure their items items are in-stock and ready to send quickly and efficiently.

FU: Can you talk me through your main, new IT infracture ideas.
MHS: Our growth is constantly leading to more advanced website, ecommerce, back office and warehousing technology. Indeed, since 1999 we have committed to over £2m of technical developments. Today, with our industry leading Back Office and Warehouse Server systems, advanced barcoding and support systems plus our multi-server website developed and hosted by the leading companies in these fields. As we're increasing the range of products and gaining more customers, we already have plans to provide a bigger, better website with features to challenge those used by the UK leading department stores. In addition, we expect there will be a tendency to move away from PCs and laptops towards smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices - so in response we will develop technical solutions especially for those customers. Our customer service team speak 15 languages and are available to help customers, officially from 8am - 8pm, however usually from 7am - 10pm. One aspect of our approach has been the development of http://www.theadorables.com, a world-leading innovative website aimed at allowing proud parents to share the joys of parenthood in a safe and non-competitive environment. We are working on our development plans for this at the moment.

FU:How do you see the future of online retail?
MHS: At the moment the potential market is virtually unlimited and still globally available. However, as the market grows towards maturity there is likely to be a declining number of trusted retailers verified by leading companies such as Google or Microsoft. Smaller ecommerce shops and uni-brand retailers will see increasingly tough times as customers look for the more choice, value, better customer service and ease of shopping that only the larger or more experienced etailers like Childrensalon can supply. As such, the market is likely to coalesce as the cost, security and trusted third party search engine issues will make it increasingly difficult for smaller players to survive.

FU: What are your future plans for Childrensalon?
MHS: To grow and move with the market; in particular to expand the range of brands (we currently offer over 230 brands) and to develop the total shopping experience. We will move with the market trend towards a more mobile and social online customer, whilst maintaining and developing our industry-leading customer service. Childrensalon is already trusted by hundreds of thousands of customers, to continue that trend we will have large ongoing investments in the latest technology. We're dedicated to our values and loyal to our customers, so we intend to remain privately owned so that we can continue to deliver the experience that has seen Childrensalon become a tradition to many customers returning through the generations and growing with us.