Urban Outfitters Case Study

The Challenge

Change, at the Speed of Retail

Change is a given in every industry, but nowhere are the changes faster, or more visible than in the retail sector. The seasons change, trends change, and the technology platforms that consumers use to make their purchases change just as frequently. And then there are unexpected changes, like Covid 19, that fundamentally change the way your business runs.

The best retailers stay one step ahead of their shoppers, and URBN is dedicated to providing a unique shopping experience through the continual development of new offerings and formats to inspire and connect with its customers. Its portfolio includes global consumer brands, retail venues, and e-commerce sites including Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, BHLDN, Terrain, Menus & Venues, and Nuuly.

Plan for Change, and Adapt

The URBN portfolio of websites plays an integral role in the way it inspires and connects with consumers. Its well-established engineering team had numerous projects in motion to keep the company one step ahead when the pandemic shuttered its brick-and-mortar operations in early 2020.

Pivoting to pure-play e-commerce operations for Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People, at least for the near term, required the immediate addition of expert people to optimize the web experience and maximize profitability.

With a condensed timeline and uncertain market, the leadership team knew that the secret to getting more work done faster-required industry expertise, constant communication and alignment, and deep knowledge of how each role is interconnected.

URBN called BairesDev.

The Solution

Experience + Flexibility = Speed

URBN’s technology leadership needed help getting things done faster, so they turned to BairesDev and its team of experienced engineers and developers.
Becoming part of the BairesDev team means being proven as the top 1% of all engineers and developers, which requires an average of 8-10 years of real-world experience, a top score in an extensive series of tests assessing their technical expertise, written and verbal English communication skills, and demonstrating a design thinking mentality.

BairesDev used AI-powered Team Recommendation Engine, its proprietary tool for matching client needs with the talent best suited for the role, and in just days presented URBN with a fully vetted team of:

When the management team at BairesDev described the way their screening process verified technical and language proficiency we were optimistic. After interviewing the team we knew we had the right partner.

Director of Technology
URBN

Making the E-Commerce experience faster, and more efficient.

When consumers were locked out of their favorite stores, they turned to e-commerce sites to fulfill their daily needs. This surge in traffic challenged the software, and BairesDev engineers were tasked with improving the experience through front-end development solutions. Specifically, the engineers needed to make the search and navigation faster while reducing error management.

Their technical expertise enabled the team to understand and address speed and error issues on the website. This, together with a design thinking mindset, established the trust required for URBN leadership to reassign team members to other projects, successfully dealing with backend solutions, returns, and a multi-attribution search platform, which improved operational efficiencies.

The BairesDev team’s expertise and work ethic were only equaled by their eagerness to learn. They learned our corporate culture, and fit right in. We asked them to work on a new platform, and they were generating solutions within the week. They are the software equivalent of a power-hitting utility infielder.

Director of e-commerce solutions
URBN

The Outcome

Speed, flexibility, and Design Thinking

With the help of BairesDev engineers, the E-Commerce at URBN quickly and efficiently improved the digital shopping experience at a time when site traffic experienced an un-forecasted spike.

For Shoppers