Find out how Crocs leverages the Demandware platform for online and multi-channel success.

1. DEMANDWARE CASE STUDY
Crocs Turns to Demandware to Expand its
eCommerce Success Around the World
With its distinctive simplicity, comfort, and casual style, growth market opportunities were in newer geographic re-
Crocs footwear has captured the hearts, minds – and feet gions for Crocs, the cost model for launching ecommerce
– of millions of men, women, and children around the world. was challenging (at best) to the brand.
The Boulder, Colo.,-based company offers more than
500 colorful, lightweight styles that feature its proprietary In response, Crocs re-evaluated its underlying eCommerce
closed-cell resin, Croslite™ that gives each pair the soft, technology (and business model) and chose Demandware
comfortable, non-marking qualities that Crocs fans know as its standard global platform. With Demandware, Crocs
and love. With more than 100 million pairs sold worldwide has able to directly addressed cost and operating con-
and annual revenue of $650 million, Crocs is one of fashion straints while also significantly enhancing the functionality
retailing’s great success stories of the 21st century. available to its business users and consumers. Demand-
ware has given Crocs the opportunity to enter dozens of
TAPPING THE ECOMMERCE OPPORTUNITY new markets in a manner that aligns costs with the incre-
From 2004-2008, Crocs experienced nearly unprecedent- mental revenue. This approach also leverages domestic
ed growth as consumers flocked to stores and snapped up operational and administrative resources while enabling
millions of shoes. However, when it came to eCommerce, local merchandising and marketing experts to apply their
the company’s investment in infrastructure and technology expertise to optimize demand.
based on legacy/licensed software, created a significant
roadblock to the global growth required to maintain momen- According to Chris Ladd, senior vice president of consumer
tum. Each new market it entered required significant (and direct for Crocs, Demandware is a foundation for the com-
upfront) investments in software licenses, hardware, net- pany’s expansion strategy as it prepares to add local sites
work bandwidth, and hosting. In addition, each new market in 30 countries around the world. “Online growth is an im-
required a substantial local team to merchandise, market, portant area of focus for us as we launch new sites in a
and operate the site(s) for that region. Since many of these number of international markets over the next two or three
©2011 Demandware, Inc.

2. years,” he said. “We selected Demandware because we brand-appropriate presentation of merchandise throughout
needed an eCommerce platform that could help us meet the world.
this ambitious timeline for international growth, while giving
us complete freedom to control the look and feel of our sites Organizationally, Crocs has built up a U.S.-based admin-
without having to manage and maintain the infrastructure.” istrative and operational team that serves all global mar-
kets. Relieved of that burden, the local teams are free to
EFFICIENT EUROPEAN EXPANSION focus directly on initiatives that generate the most demand.
Using a global master catalog with country-specific mer- The new eCommerce sites proliferating around the world
chandising and marketing has led Crocs to sizzling year- do not require the company to re-invest in areas such as
over-year growth and enabled the company to capitalize on networking, hosting, hardware maintenance, availability, or
various opportunities in each licensing.
unique market. Today, Crocs
operates nine distinct sites in MOVING TO ASIA, AFRICA, AND BEYOND
Europe in three different cur- Today, Crocs is applying this same model throughout Asia,
COUNTRIES UNDER rencies and seven languages. where a small merchandising and marketing team in Singa-
DEVELOPMENT Yet its merchandising and mar- pore is supporting the deployment of sites in Australia, Sin-
keting team is only 25 percent gapore, and Hong Kong, as well as Taiwan. Soon, Crocs
• Argentina larger than when it had sites will also be up and running in Japan, Korea, and China. In
• Canada in only one currency and three 2011 and 2012, Crocs anticipates further expansion of its
• Chile languages (prior to Demand- eCommerce portfolio (through continued translation and lo-
• China ware). calization of its core platform) to support markets like Brazil,
• Columbia Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Dubai, and more. By the end
• Czech republic “It’s amazing how – without sig- of 2012, Crocs will be operating eCommerce sites in more
• Denmark nificant capital expense – we’ve than 50 countries, in more than 35 languages and more
• Dubai been able to quickly proliferate than 40 currencies - all with localized merchandising and
• Finland (now live) sites across the globe using marketing but maintained and operated by a centralized
• India Demandware,” said Tony Duea, eCommerce team within the company’s U.S. organization.
• Israel senior director of eCommerce
• Japan technology. “Each new site is “Demandware’s business model is very attractive in this
• Korea an exercise in configuration, current global economy, when large-scale capital infra-
• Mexico translation, and merchandis- structure projects are increasingly difficult to justify,” said
• New Zealand ing. From a pure development Ladd. “Its on-demand delivery and pricing model makes it
• Norway and infrastructure point of view, cost-effective for companies like Crocs to continue to drive
• Paraguay Demandware scales in direct eCommerce projects forward, setting us up for long-term
• Philippines proportion to our needs and we success.”
• Poland incur almost no capital expense
• Portugal to enable each new site.” ABOUT DEMANDWARE, INC.
• Russia The trusted, global leader in on-demand ecommerce,
• Singapore Crocs’s local EU eCommerce Demandware revolutionizes how businesses deliver
• Slovakia team leverages the scalability customized shopping experiences to consumers in the
• South Africa of Demandware to standard- digital world. Only Demandware combines the on-de-
• Sweden ize its integrations, user experi- mand ecommerce platform rated #1 by industry ana-
• Taiwan ences, and product assortment lysts, an open ecosystem of partners that extend the
• Thailand to eliminate system, process, value of the platform, and measurable commitment by
• Turkey and technology redundancy. its employees to enabling client revenue growth. De-
• UAE No product photography is re- mandware continually sets industry standards for mar-
• Uruguay quired to support these EU ket innovation and client satisfaction. Demandware
sites because the same source clients include industry leaders such as Bare Escentuals,
* Live or under images are served for all sites Barneys New York, Columbia Sportswear, Crocs, Freder-
development around the world. Besides the ick’s of Hollywood, Hanover Direct, Jones Apparel Group,
obvious cost savings, this also Lifetime Brands, Michaels Stores, Panasonic, Playmobil
creates a more controlled and and Reitmans.
Demandware Inc. 781.425.1400
5 Wall Street, 2nd floor info@demandware.com
Burlington, MA 01803 www.demandware.com
This document contains archival information which should not be considered current and may no longer be accurate. ©2011 Demandware, Inc.