Chicago — Crate & Barrel Holdings, Inc. (CBH) has unveiled a multi-year investment plan to pave the future for continued growth across the organization centered on the customer experience. Through significant investments in talent, technology and infrastructure, CBH is committing to delivering a seamless, premium and personalized customer experience through a digital-first operating model and modern technology foundation.
“We have learned so much over the past 3 years as we have navigated through both a global pandemic and a supply chain crisis,” says Janet Hayes, CEO of Crate & Barrel Holdings. “By leading with a modern mindset, we experienced unprecedented growth during these times of tremendous pressure and these investments will help us maintain that momentum.”
This modernization will optimize inventory, use real-time data to predict demand, automate decisions and maintain fast, complete and reliable delivery. Powered by an integrated, automated and AI-driven technology stack, these investments stretch across the entire company from internal efficiencies and sustainability to the customer shopping journey online, in-store and in the home. Priorities include:
Talent:
• Double the size of the technology team over the next 3 years, hiring new product managers, engineers, architects, data scientists and technology leaders.
• Moving the business intelligence and customer relationship management to this new technology team to align the technology solutions with real-time outcomes, analytics and reporting.
Technology:
• Building a new technology stack from the ground up for multi-brand, multi-channel, multi-country growth opportunities.
• Accelerating universal apps and platforms with next-generation AI technology for a more personalized, premium and seamless customer experience.
Platforms:
• Utilizing AI technology and automation to increase facility efficiencies and optimize inventory for quicker customer deliveries and a reduced carbon footprint.
• Increasing automation across channels to easily identify and offer services for customers based on their preferences.
This new path forward enables the organization to optimize its supply chain with a proprietary process that maximizes efficiencies leading to an improved customer experience and reduced carbon footprint.
Hiring for the new investment plan is already underway. Interested candidates can visit https://jobs.crateandbarrel.com/.
Global specialty retailer Crate & Barrel Holdings Inc. includes lifestyle brands Crate & Barrel, CB2, Crate & Kids and Hudson Grace. Today, the company is a member of the Otto Group and operates over 100 Crate & Barrel, CB2 and Hudson Grace stores throughout the U.S. and Canada, with franchise locations in nine countries. For more information, visit www.crateandbarrel.com.
SOURCE: Crate and Barrel Holdings, Inc.