Aging updated. Six years after the turmoil of a broader social project, the northern brand La Redout is on the rise: 20% growth by 2020 and more than a billion business volumes. The company claims one million new customers and plans to expand strongly internationally.

This success will come as no surprise if Amazon forgets long ago that the brand, born 180 years ago, has always been at the forefront of e-commerce. In 2014, when it was separated from one-third of its workforce (approximately 1,200 job cuts), La Redout already had 80% of its activity on the web, and was one of the largest e-commerce sites.

The end of the golden age of the catalog

Except that the competition puts more and more pressure. Consumption is changing. This is the end of the golden age of catalog and traditional remote sales. It is not enough to have a successful website to switch to e-commerce. La Redout was losing ground. Logistics and back office are not compatible with digital, ”recalls Natalie Balla, co-president of La Redout and the actor who took over the company in 2014.

It is necessary to break out of the seasonal logic of the Sacrosank catalog of “a backbone that hinders the flexibility of e-commerce due to storage” 20 minutes. According to Natalie Balla, the company “must maintain a strong emotional bond with customers by relying on their own collections”. Which collections still represent 70% of the turnover. “This is one of the reasons for today’s success,” said the co-chair. We have a real specialization that has given a strong place to women’s and children’s clothing and home decor. “

Upgrade of logistics site

Nothing would have been possible without the logistics upgrade. The Martinoir site in Waterloo, near Turcoing, commissioned in the early 1970s, enabled a revolution: the “48 Hour Stop Watch”. In 2018, the modern center of Quai 30, on the opposite sidewalk, was abandoned to watch it grow.

“Before, the man went looking for things, and now she’s coming to him, Natalie summons Balla. To finalize a package, we now touch the goods 5 times instead of 15 times before. Everything is now automated as requested by the users and the time saver ensures delivery within 24 hours. “

With this profound transformation, capital is opening up to employees in 2015. Clearly, the company is expanding internationally with six subsidiaries in Belgium (30 per cent of turnover, in the opinion of its co-president), and, of course, in Portugal, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain and Russia. Launched in 2020 in the Netherlands and Germany. Austria and Ireland will follow in 2021.

Signed REFREDFARID, La Redoute’s new campaign focuses on family life. Directed by Geraldine Nakashe, it will be unveiled tonight on TF1 and Digital: https://t.co/aDraHziyVG 🎬❤️ pic.twitter.com/ihWjO7JB30

– La Redoute (aLaRedouteFr) March 26, 2021

La Redout launches a new advertising campaign with the media as a sign of renewed confidence. During the first broadcast, Friday Co-lanta.