rue21

rue21 is a fast-fashion growth retailer with locations in shopping malls, outlets, and strip centers across the United States. By working directly with the market, rue21 reacts instantly — producing new trends and must-have styles that don't exist anywhere else.

"We are a fast-fashion retailer catering to the teen space," explains Joel Layton, VP of Digital Marketing. "Our focus is basically 14–24 year olds, so we make our goods affordable for that demographic."

The company has begun to expand its attention to online channels. "Now we are ramping up on all these digital channels in new ways," Layton states. "From paid search to social media, email, display, and so on." But Layton is also mindful that most sales still come from in-person shoppers. "Let's face it," he remarks. "Even in today's world, as digitized as we are, 80% of the dollars spent in retail are still spent at a physical location. That number is probably not going away in my lifetime. So physical presence is still going to be a huge play."

In an effort to translate online engagement into offline foot traffic, Layton signed on with Yext. "Due to our physical footprint," he explains, "we were a natural fit for Yext."

Yext enables brands like rue21 to manage their brand information across their websites, mobile apps, internal systems, and the entire Publisher Network— more than 150 maps, apps, search engines, GPS systems, and social networks including Google, Apple, Facebook, Bing, and Yahoo.

Layton sieht die Integration physischer Ladengeschäfte mit Onlinekanälen als entscheidenden Faktor für Erfolg im Einzelhandel. „Standortseiten sind ein unschätzbar wertvolles Kommunikationsmittel zwischen Geschäften und Kunden“, so Layton. „Aus Marketingsicht ist es super, eine Plattform zu haben, über die ich mit Leuten reden kann, die noch nicht von uns wissen. Yext hilft mir dabei, potenziellen Kunden unsere Geschäftszeiten, Angebote und Events mitzuteilen. Das war wirklich entscheidend.“