Workday : How La Redoute Is Styling Its Future as an Omnichannel Innovator

The way we shop has dramatically changed. In 2021, 2.14 billion people chose to make purchases online, and fashion products accounted for the largest share of online sales. With e-retail sales projected to grow to $5.4 trillion in 2022, it's safe to say that online shopping is here to stay.

La Redoute, a French retailer specialising in ready-to-wear apparel and home décor, made the shift to online in 2014. Originally based in Lille, France, the company has grown to operate in seven countries with 10 million customers.

David Lamy, CHRO at La Redoute, spoke to us about the journey of the iconic 185-year-old brand, the challenges and opportunities in taking the digital leap, how the company is enhancing consumer and employee experience with state-of-the-art technology, and leadership's vision for the future.

"Innovation has always been part of the DNA of La Redoute."

David LamyChief Human Resources OfficerLa Redoute

Timeless Style Stitched With Innovation

La Redoute, founded in 1837, has stood the test of time. It is positioned today as an e-commerce player and creates 70% of its collections in-house. Its website is one of the top ranked in France for apparel and home décor.

La Redoute's growth journey, however, wasn't always smooth sailing. Lamy spoke about the challenges the company faced and how it overcame them by moving from a catalogue to an online business.

"The company wasn't doing so well at one point. We decided to transform the business model into an online marketplace, adding home decoration to our product line to diversify our offerings. Moving to a digital environment was a huge transformation for us in terms of training, supply chain, employee experience, and marketing," Lamy said.

Since 2015, La Redoute has added brick-and-mortar stores in major cities for its home-decoration labels, and the company is investing heavily in creating an immersive "phygital" experience, blending digital experience with physical in-store experience through the integration of tablets and mobile apps for customers.

"Every time you increase your customer experience, you need to think about your employee experience as well."

Mobile devices account for 38% of La Redoute's turnover. In response, the company has deployed two unique features in its mobile application to provide customers with a one-of-a-kind shopping experience: voice and visual recognition. This is a first for Europe and facilitates in-app shopping by helping customers find products with more ease and speed.

Lamy described how the team's spirit of continuous innovation has helped La Redoute stay relevant for nearly two centuries. "Innovation has always been part of the DNA of La Redoute. It is important to implement innovation, especially in services, and think about how we can help customers have the best experience online. It is not about getting them to buy, but rebuy."

Re-imagining Employee Engagement and Feedback Culture

Lamy spoke about how La Redoute endeavours to replicate its zest for innovation and customer satisfaction in its approach to employee experience as well.

"If you want to develop a strong employee engagement, you need to synchronise experience. Every time you increase your customer experience, you need to think about your employee experience as well. Invest equally in your customers and your employees."

In the last 18 months, La Redoute has made the biggest strides in understanding its employees' development needs, expectations, and trials and tribulations.

One of the first focus areas for Lamy when he joined La Redoute was to reassess its employee survey and feedback mechanism. He also needed to find an advanced tool that could empower employees and transfer accountability from HR to team leaders, enabling them to manage employee feedback directly and on an ongoing basis. Workday Peakon Employee Voice provided the answer.

"The way the Workday Peakon Employee Voice tool is structured helps our managers to manage their action plan on a regular basis. You can do an engagement survey every week or every four to six weeks, create a plan based on the results, measure your progress, and do another one. That's really what we wanted."

Since using Workday's platform, La Redoute has seen a significant improvement in survey results. Workday Peakon Employee Voice has also saved the company time and costs on a global level by making the feedback survey process more efficient. "It used to be a four to five month process for one survey per year. Now, it's a 10-minute weekly conversation. It's changed the entire process for us," said Lamy.

Lamy stressed the importance of aligning HR processes, like feedback surveys, to an employee's work cycle to listen to workers at the right place, and at the right time.

"When we look at an employee's activities, projects, goals, and achievements, they are not all done annually. Some are quarterly and some monthly. We need to rethink how we align with the way our people work."

"We are moving from CHRO to chief engagement officer in the future."

Reinventing Inside Out for a Phygital Future

La Redoute's growth strategy for the next five years is to double its size from a billion-dollar business to two billion dollars, go carbon neutral by 2030, and further grow its international footprint. International expansion also means managing a more diverse workforce, which is why fostering a robust feedback culture has been so critical for the company.

"In the future, our workers could be located in countries where we don't have subsidiaries. This is a huge change, especially for a French company that operated solely out of Lille. And it is a big change for managers."

Lamy believes, to better support the workplace of the future, the role of the CHRO must also evolve. "We are moving from CHRO to chief engagement officer in the future," said Lamy.

He shared his parting piece of advice for HR leaders and firms looking to weave lasting bonds with their employees.

"We need to empower managers to approach engagement the same way they tackle other daily tasks. Employee engagement surveys are not a corporate tool but a management tool."