Ralph Lauren’s new Web site lets you linger too long Ralph Lauren’s design empire – from clothing, accessories and home furnishings to the boutiques they’re sold in – is known for its look of easy elegance. But his new Web site (www.polo.com) probably won’t be.
It’s a shame, because Lauren is reportedly the first design house to set up its own full-scale e-commerce site.
Part of Ralph Lauren Media LLC, the site is headed by Ralph’s son David. He used to publish the now-defunct Swing, a magazine for people who were in their twenties, or at least thought they were.
The Goods Polo.com offers more than 2,500 products with an average price of $100. According to the promotional material we received, the site eventually will provide more service-oriented contents, such as Ask Ralph (Lauren answers style questions from what’s described as his “unique perspective on tasteful living”) or “interesting and provocative stories and imagery by well-known and emerging writers, illustrators and photographers.
“Now,” the copy continues, “[people] can not only see our lifestyle advertisements, they can buy the beautiful outfit, they can read an interview with the model who’s wearing it, watch a video about how to style it – and even book a trip to the location where the ad was shot.”
Right. About 600,000 people registered for Polo.com between February 2000, when the site was first announced to the public, and November, when it launched. Nevertheless, the company will roll out a $100 million television print ad campaign. The site focuses on Lauren’s casual and sports lines, such as Polo Sport, RLX, and Polo Jeans.
There’s a sort of J.Peterman soft-sell behind all that content – the belief that people will want to linger at the site, take a tour of the Rhinelander mansion in Manhattan that Lauren converted into his flagship store, or read the prattle of self-important models and photographers. We doubt there’s anyone in the United States who doesn’t own something bearing a Ralph Lauren logo. But we also doubt anyone will be interested enough to be riveted by a photographer’s diary of a Ralph Lauren photo shoot.
However, while good content is a proven e-commerce strategy, it’s intrusive here, making navigation counterintuitive if not confusing.
Red Herringbone For example, you can find a herringbone sport jacket through three items on the main menu: Search, Ask Ralph and Polo Work Casual. The jacket is presented as an “Internet” herringbone sport jacket, an “Architect” sport jacket and a “Wall Street” jacket. But unless you’ve clicked through Work Casual first, you won’t know why the same jacket has three different names. It turns out that Lauren has organized his men’s business casual wear into three looks (Internet, Architect and Wall Street) made up of five icons, one of which is the herringbone jacket. But this isn’t clear if you “Ask Ralph” whether it’s OK to wear a herringbone sport jacket to the office. And, of course, it is.
Final Focus While the pitch and navigation are leisurely and labyrinthine, at least the order form seems standard. We also liked that we could click on a color swatch and see what an item would look like in that color. Actually, once you get to the ordering process, the site comes into focus.
We’ve certainly encountered worse e-commerce sites than Polo.com. But this was a real shock, because Lauren has always been known for savvy marketing as well as good design. We question its potential in the current format.
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