Sales Strategy
Retail Digital Strategy: A Scalable Framework That Delivers Results July 13, 2025 (0 comments)
New York, NY--Retailers today face pressure to meet evolving customer expectations while navigating digital fragmentation and unpredictable market shifts. As per the article by CIO, many transformation projects stall because they try to tackle too much at once or remain stuck in pilots without scaling.
[Image via iStockphoto.com]
At Kendra Scott, leadership focuses on practical execution rather than chasing trends. The result: a 50% surge in digital revenue within two years, despite softer retail demand. According to the article, this success came from combining a clear vision, disciplined priorities, and empowered teams.
Building a Strong Foundation
When the transformation began in early 2023, Kendra Scott formed a cross-functional task force to audit the customer experience across product, commercial, and digital dimensions. According to the article, this comprehensive assessment resulted in a three-year roadmap being developed within the first 100 days.
The framework rests on one vision and three strategic pillars:
Vision
Deliver the most personalized omnichannel experience and deepen customer relationships.
Three Strategic Pillars
- Simplify Mobile: With over 80% of traffic and most sales happening on mobile, the team reimagined mobile experiences. Agile pods modernized payments, accelerated site speed, and integrated AI-powered search. The article highlights that this contributed roughly half of the revenue uplift.
- Lead in Personalization and Gifting: CIO notes that Kendra Scott repositioned digital channels to become the top gifting destination. Personalization pods enhanced recommendations, product customization, and promotional effectiveness, accounting for approximately one-third of the total gains.
- Elevate Experiential Commerce: The brand enhanced storytelling, improved self-service, and unified the customer experience across channels. These efforts accounted for the remaining share of growth, according to the article.
Foundations and Enablers
The strategy relied on four enablers:
- High-Performing Teams: New functions, such as analytics and personalization, were introduced to enhance execution. The article notes that employee engagement increased, with the NPS rising by 40 points.
- AI + Data + CRM: The business cleaned data, mapped the end-to-end journey, and introduced predictive and generative AI to reduce friction and boost performance.
- Profit-First Approach: Operations shifted from chasing sales volume to focusing on profitable growth. According to the article, this included reducing cancellations and optimizing full-price execution.
- Customer-Centric Culture: Customer research, surveys, and journey analysis guided UX improvements. The article emphasizes that every decision was anchored in listening to the customer.
Lessons for Retail Leaders
CIO’s article offers several insights for transformation success:
- Prioritize clarity over ambition. Focus on the 3–5 initiatives that move the needle.
- Treat digital as a P&L discipline, not just a technology project.
- Culture is critical. Building belief and support among teams unlocks progress.
Learn more in this article by CIO.