RCG Corporations’ The Athlete’s Foot (TAF) will be launching its e-commerce store with the help of IT firm Dedication Group

Having already seen the results of an e-commerce store with the launch of its Shoe Superstore in 2010 where it experience a 40 per cent growth in online sales over 12 months to July 2011, RCG hopes to be gain the same revenue and brand opportunities from the introduction of TAF’s online store.

RCG eCommerce CEO Mark Teperson said the online store will also enable TAF to effectively compete with international online retailers by offering customers faster shipping of goods.

"The growth of the online retail segment is changing the way customers shop and as a retailer it's vital we adapt our systems to cater for customer preferences across both traditional stores and online,” he said.

“Dedication Group's reputation dealing with complex projects made them a natural choice for making sure TAF customers have a consistent and seamless experience whether they are walking into our traditional stores or shopping online."

The existing site already has all the features of allowing consumers to find shoes based on gender, categories, brands and arch type, as well as leave and share comment via social networking sites.

But Dedication Group will ensure TAF's new e-commerce platform, expected to go live in 2012, integrates with its existing IT and inventory systems, so that customers are offered a consistent experience across both the online and in-store channels.

Dedication Group will be bringing algorithmic decision making from the financial markets to the retail consumer. In line with TAF's commitment to 'Fit', the proprietary algorithm will assist online customers in finding the right shoe for their individual needs.

Greg Pritchard, Dedication Group managing director, said the TAF project was an example of where Dedication Group's experience in dealing with IT projects in financial services with unique risk profiles had a direct benefit to retail companies facing unusually complex IT projects.

"Relative to vanilla e-commerce projects, TAF faces higher levels of complexity coordinating its IT systems given the maturity and reach of its business operations. For Dedication Group, this is one of our key skills – assisting companies manage and mitigate business and operational risks, and we're excited to be working with RCG to ensure the launch of TAF's e-commerce offering is a success," he said.