RARE IMAGINATION
Activating the brand across a DTC site
Microsoft owned Rare Games approached THG Ingenuity to launch their first DTC website after a successful, long standing relationship with THG On Demand – Ingenuity’s on demand production service. Rare Games had previously retailed via THG owned site Zavvi – targeting consumers interested in entertainment merchandise.
Rare Games wanted the opportunity to launch a DTC site to deepen the brand / customer relationships, with a completely branded online presence offering fans of their gaming range a more immersive online shopping experience.
A P P R O A C H
The THG Ingenuity team worked closely with Microsoft to understand the key requirements they had for their site and their longer-term plans for growth for the brand. To ensure Rare Games could continue to benefit from THG On Demand, the team agreed to launch a DTC site on Ingenuity’s Imagination platform – a self-managed solution to launching a completely customisable, shoppable site. The Imagination platform is directly linked THG On Demand, enabling brands to launch customised product ranges within minutes. This was an essential factor for Rare Games who wanted the ability to launch merchandise within minutes of the launch of new games.
During a six-week period, the Imagination and Rare Games teams worked together through daily meetings to ensure the site build delivered on all of the brands requirements and offered the client the option to work through daily testing of the platform. The teams worked together to consider every element of DTC from: shipping destinations, currency conversions, tax requirements, customer experience on site & reporting.
SOLUTION
It took six weeks from kick off to go live for the site to launch, offering Rare Games the ability to ship to 163 countries, ensuring the global customer base Rare had built up through Zavvi was considered. Within 8 weeks of the site launching the brand had launched 3 new product ranges including a mixture of items produced on demand and also finished goods including a limited-edition coin.
The site enables Rare Games to change products quickly and easily and is completely integrated with THG On Demand to support wider sales and marketing efforts around key game launches. THG On Demand offers brands a no stock risk approach to production, utilising its in house team of product designers to get product live on site and ready to sell within minutes.
The Imagination platform also offered Rare the ability to design bespoke reporting as part of the platform offering delivering real time updates on all site performance, customer transactions and offer and discount trading drives.
RESULTS
As the site performance continues to improve the Imagination team are now looking into localised websites and global payments options to further enhance the customer experience of the brand. The Rare Games site is managed by the Imagination team day to day including all trading on site, with marketing managed by the brand. Since the site launched it has performed well delivering against expectations and enhancing the client’s relationship with its customers.
FIRST TWO MONTHS
140,172
Sessions
$20.01
AOV
166
Shipping locals
113076
Total Customers