Today’s customers are discerning, demanding, and easily distracted. But, as British lifestyle store Oliver Bonas proves, listening to customer feedback and personalising the customer experience with the right data can help retailers break through the noise and develop deep customer relationships.
That’s where REVIEWS.io comes in. By leveraging real-time customer insights, brands like Oliver Bonas can refine their strategy, improve engagement, and drive revenue growth. Want to see how it works? Book a demo and discover how REVIEWS.io can transform your customer experience.
Oliver Bonas designs fashion and homeware inspired by founder Olly’s world travels and joyful mission. With 80+ stores, Oliver Bonas has grown since its founding 30 years ago to become one of the UK’s top retailers, with their online store achieving over 2 million monthly page views. Oliver Bonas has won awards like the UK eCommerce Award for Fashion/Apparel Website of the Year, and a RetailX Top 250 spot, alongside brands like Gucci and Net-A-Porter.
Let’s rewind: in 2013, the retailer approached Tom&Co, a UK-based agency, to launch its first Magento website. Since then, Oliver Bonas has revamped the site four times and integrated REVIEWS.io, evolving its digital presence to stay ahead in an ever-changing e-commerce landscape.
Here’s how Oliver Bonas, supported by Bloomreach, Tom&Co, and REVIEWS.io leveraged its digital presence to increase conversions, boost revenue, and become one of the most recognized brands in the UK.
Oliver Bonas partnered with Tom&Co to build an e-commerce website that could grow with the brand. Since 2013, Tom&Co has relaunched the Oliver Bonas site four times, consistently evolving with the customer's needs.
Long before ‘headless architecture’ became a trend, Tom&Co adopted this approach for the Oliver Bonas retail site. Headless architecture separates the front end (UI) from the back end (business logic). This decoupling allows for more customisation, faster development, and quicker time-to-market.
For Oliver Bonas, this approach accelerated international expansion into Ireland and the US, delivering customised features like regional currencies, delivery options, and content.
Expansion translated into higher demand: Tom&Co introduced the ‘Endless Aisles’ initiative, which created an omnichannel experience for Oliver Bonas customers. In-store staff were given tablets that had access to warehouse inventory. Team members could order items directly for customers with free delivery. A click & collect integration allowed customers to pick up online orders from any store.
As sales grew, the Oliver Bonas team continually sought ways to personalise the customer experience. REVIEWS.io played a role in understanding evolving customer expectations.
By integrating REVIEWS.io into Magento, the brand could ask three specific product attribute questions to customers - tailored to their product range. REVIEWS.io collected 246,131 product reviews over 10 years.
These questions help Oliver Bonas stay attuned to the needs of customers and build a community around its brand.
“Oliver Bonas maximises the power of Reviews.io through seamless integration with their robust API, enabling us to showcase customer feedback beautifully and flexibly, perfectly aligned with their unique style guide,” - India Claydon, Marketing & Partner Manager at Tom&Co.
“This dynamic system allows reviews to be filtered by key details, like fit (runs large or small) and by rating, ensuring an effortless and tailored shopping experience for their customers.”
Bloomreach is an AI integration that combines real-time customer and product data to personalise marketing, product discovery, content, and conversational shopping. The partnership between REVIEWS.io and Bloomreach enabled Oliver Bonas to build a database that connected customer experiences with a single, automated solution.
The retailer relied on REVIEWS.io to easily collect genuine, authentic company and product feedback from its customers. Features like the Review Booster allowed Oliver Bonas to automatically contact recent orders with a review request using customised email invitations.
Then, REVIEWS.io’s Social Proof Editor effortlessly transforms top reviews into stunning digital banners for use as social proof across Bloomreach Engagement’s messaging channels.
The data collected by REVIEWS.io enriches Bloomreach Engagement customer profiles, leading to a highly personalised customer experience.
Overall, the unified data, collected through Bloomreach’s all-inclusive platform, delivered connected customer experiences with a single, automated solution. It also allowed customers to manage their correspondence with the company through an email preference centre.
Tom&Co has seen results skyrocket since upgrading the e-commerce site. The combined efforts of REVIEWS.io and Bloomreach enabled the retailer to reach new levels of growth. Last year, Oliver Bonas saw a 58% traffic increase, reaching over 360,000 monthly unique visitors. Year-over-year business turnover grew by 123%, and monthly page views have reached 2 million.
Notably, revenue has surged by 2900% since the agency’s initial partnership. Performance metrics like page load time improved by 24%, mobile sessions rose by 85.2%, and overall conversion rates saw a 19.5% uplift.
What’s next for Oliver Bonas? The sky is the limit as the brand’s retail stores continue to focus on an immersive experience powered by customer feedback. The brand is focused on providing a space for inspiration and self-expression, and we’re excited to see what they do next.
There are several things other retailers can learn from Oliver Bonas’ experience with Tom&Co and REVIEWS.io.
Ready to achieve similar results? Discover how REVIEWS.io can transform your brand’s customer engagement and growth.
