Lauren Morr, Abercrombie & Fitch | Modern Retail Vanguard 2024
This is part of the Modern Retail Vanguard, a series highlighting the behind-the-scenes talent powering the world’s top retail brands. More from the series →
As the senior vice president of digital engineering & architecture at Abercrombie & Fitch, it’s Lauren Morr’s job to make sure that the apparel brand’s website and app are up to snuff on big shopping days like Black Friday, when Abercrombie might see 10 times the usual amount of traffic.
But Morr’s role is about more than just making sure that Abercrombie’s online channels are running. It’s also about building digital systems that “are supporting our business as it’s changing,” she says.
When Morr joined the company in 2011, Abercrombie was still largely the epitome of cool among preppy teens, and was focused on extending its empire by opening splashy flagships abroad. But Abercrombie has changed with the times. These days, it wants to be known for high-quality essentials that its millennial customers can wear everywhere from football tailgates to work. It’s even created a wedding shop. And, it’s more focused on connecting the digital and physical shopping experience, rather than opening sprawling, expensive stores.
In turn, Abercrombie remains a shining star of the public markets, reporting sales of $1.21 billion during its November third-quarter earnings, up roughly 14% year-over-year.
Personalization is a big focus for Morr. She said that Abercrombie ended up redoing its approach to personalization a couple years ago, “because we didn’t get it right the first time.” For Morr, personalization is about “wowing [the customer] everywhere,” not just slapping their name on the homepage of the app.
Instead, Abercrombie’s approach to personalization involves updating the shopping experience as someone browses throughout the website and app. The brand refreshes its home page with someone’s top categories based on what they previously purchased.
“Personalization will continue to make its way throughout the whole experience, not just on the home page or on product pages,” Morr says. “You’ll see it everywhere across our sites.”
Abercrombie CEO Fran Horowitz applauded this work during an earnings call in August. She said that the company was able to drive double-digit comps in digital because of the investments it was making “day in, day out” on mobile.
Morr’s team has also worked to do a better job of connecting Abercrombie’s app to its stores. If someone is signed into the Abercrombie app and they approach a store with location services turned on, the app will automatically show the shopper what products in stores they might be interested in based on their purchase history. And over the past year, Abercrombie has upgraded various app capabilities to provide associates with more product information. If a loyalty program member provides their phone number, for example, details such as what rewards they have available, and recommendations based on browsing and shopping history can be shared.
“This is a really new thing for our associates, to get tools like this to support our customers on their journey,” Morr says. “We’re really working towards what’s next for our associates and the customers interacting together in the stores.”