East is a high-street retailer of womenswear whose name reflects its ethnic heritage. By 2008, the company has grown to 77 outlets, with 52 stores and 22 concessions, including 18 John Lewis concessions.

The product was originally designed for women who love individual, natural fabrics with an ethnic feel. The products are heavily influenced by the time-honoured traditions of the Far East: handcrafted embroideries, wonderful evocative prints and vibrant colours are used to create the distinctive outfits.

The Brief

To internally project-manage the launch of a new e-commerce website and online store as well as proposing and operating an online marketing strategy.

What We Did

We provided interim project management on a part-time basis managing two further third-party companies involved in deploying the solution.

Key elements that we focused on were:

• Project-managing the planning and launch phase
• Mentoring the newly appointed online commerce shop manager; transferring industry knowledge, insight and techniques for the day-to-day operation of an online store
• Defining an online marketing campaign to drive traffic to the newly launched online shop