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BIMA Member News: Otto UK brings high street shopping into the home with launch of new brand

Known as the Oli Look Book, the shopping application has been designed with the users’ needs in mind and will deliver an improved customer experience by replicating the positive elements of high street shopping online.

Otto UK’s existing mail order brands, which include Freemans and Grattan, have traditionally sold via catalogues with a supporting website. The Oli Look Book will instead trade primarily as an online application with a catalogue in support, a first attempt down this route for Otto UK. Customers will be able to buy anything from homewares and furnishings, including TVs, sofas and curtains, to clothes and accessories.

The Oli Look Book is essentially an online wardrobe whereby consumers can mix and match items from different collections and change the colour of items with the click of a button. Every page displays a button which allows users to add items to a doc bar at the bottom of the page. Once they click into the doc bar, a canvas is created on which consumers can create outfits by dragging and dropping the items they have selected to see if the pair of jeans they like go with a top from a different collection.

Information available to consumers when they roll over an item includes price, what the product is made of and options to minimise and expand the item if they want to get a closer look. To avoid buying the same outfit as a friend, or to get a second opinion, users will also be able to email their outfit to a friend via the site, who can then make recommendations by adding or removing items.

“The Oli Look Book is a unique application which will provide consumers with a complete shopping experience and offer them something not currently available on the market,” says Tony Preedy, marketing director of Otto UK. “Consumers will no longer have to make a special trip to the high street to check that their chosen items don’t clash. We chose to work with Conchango due to their understanding of these consumer needs and desires and were impressed that they were able to deliver both ahead of schedule and under budget.”

Mike Altendorf, CEO of Conchango, comments: “Retailers now understand the value of online trade, investing more into monitoring consumers’ changing needs and behaviour, and tailoring their offering accordingly. Consumers’ online buying is growing as extended working hours and busy lifestyles stop them from spending their spare time visiting the shops or they are put off by the huge queues they have to contend with on the high street. Consumers have however been disappointed that many retailers have failed to reproduce the in-store shopping experience online, something that Otto UK aim to rectify with the Oli Look Book.”

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