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Behind the classic charm of R.M. Williams' Adelaide workshop, the bootmaker is quietly building its own cutting-edge technology that it is betting will turbocharge international sales. Known for its handcrafted outback boots and rugged clothing, R.M. Williams is about to relaunch its digital store for international customers and in the process is building out its supply chain to rapidly improve delivery times across UK and North America. The overhaul marks one of the single biggest investments in R.M. Williams after the buyout of the luxury Australian brand by multi-billionaire Andrew Forrest and his wife Nicola a little over two years ago. The Forrests private equity firm Tattarang paid $180m for the retailer, with an eye to reinvigorating the global expansion of the outback fashion label. While customers in London or New York can today buy R.M. Williams products including boots and belts and shirts online, the wait can often be measured in weeks. Products are currently shipped from the Adelaide workshop, but the retailer, through a partnership with US tech major Salesforce and using localised hubs, will bring offshore delivery times as soon as the next day. At the same time, R.M. Williams is working with signature bootmakers outside Australia to offer localised repair services to international customers, which meets the fashion label's promise that boots will last a lifetime. Currently repairs are shipped to Adelaide and then returned to their international destination. A faster delivery cycle means R.M. Williams can become a bigger player in seasonal events including Christmas and Black Friday - although as a luxury brand it avoids discounting. Currently the cut-off for Christmas delivery is weeks ahead meaning the retailer often misses out on orders as momentum builds through December. In order to get to this point R.M. Williams needed to strip out dozens of retail platforms and install a platform that can help R.M. Williams staff track customer orders and repairs through physical stores as well as desktop and mobile. The tech rebuild also extended to more than 40 stores in Australia. Over time R.M. Williams plans to use its international stores as hubs, further bringing in delivery speeds. "Historically, we would see those stores and digital as separate channels but that is really one customer experience," says Nathan Alexander, the chief technology officer of R.M. Williams. "That's why putting the customer at the centre is critical because for the customer it doesn't matter what channel that they're going to interact with whether that's in store or online - so it's up to us to provide in- store experiences and services that complement the digital channel." He says markets such as the UK are further advanced than Australia when it comes to customer expectations around online retail and same day to next day delivery. And R.M. Williams had to raise the bar to compete there. Currently a quarter of R.M. Williams' sales come from outside of Australia and the retailer is supported by a small international store network including London and New York. Australia is still core to R.M. Williams but the retailer has an ambition to generate as much as 40 per cent of sales from offshore in coming years. Critically this will help protect the fashion label from swings in the local retail market. At some point Alexander expects a crossover where more sales will be generated from online than the physical store network. "Digital is a huge part of unlocking value for our customer," Alexander says. "This means we can better serve our customers both in Australia and internationally". Behind the classic charm of R.M. Williams' Adelaide workshop, the bootmaker is quietly building its own cutting-edge technology that it is betting will turbocharge international sales. Known for its handcrafted outback boots and rugged clothing, R.M. Williams is about to relaunch its digital store for international customers and in the process is building out its supply chain to rapidly improve delivery times across UK and North America. The overhaul marks one of the single biggest investments in R.M. Williams after the buyout of the luxury Australian brand by multi-billionaire Andrew Forrest and his wife Nicola a little over two years ago. The Forrests private equity firm Tattarang paid $180m for the retailer, with an eye to reinvigorating the global expansion of the outback fashion label. While customers in London or New York can today buy R.M. Williams products including boots and belts and shirts online, the wait can often be measured in weeks. Products are currently shipped from the Adelaide workshop, but the retailer, through a partnership with US tech major Salesforce and using localised hubs, will bring offshore delivery times as soon as the next day. At the same time, R.M. Williams is working with signature bootmakers outside Australia to offer localised repair services to international customers, which meets the fashion label's promise that boots will last a lifetime. Currently repairs are shipped to Adelaide and then returned to their international destination. A faster delivery cycle means R.M. Williams can become a bigger player in seasonal events including Christmas and Black Friday - although as a luxury brand it avoids discounting. Currently the cut-off for Christmas delivery is weeks ahead meaning the retailer often misses out on orders as momentum builds through December. In order to get to this point R.M. Williams needed to strip out dozens of retail platforms and install a platform that can help R.M. Williams staff track customer orders and repairs through physical stores as well as desktop and mobile. The tech rebuild also extended to more than 40 stores in Australia. Over time R.M. Williams plans to use its international stores as hubs, further bringing in delivery speeds. "Historically, we would see those stores and digital as separate channels but that is really one customer experience," says Nathan Alexander, the chief technology officer of R.M. Williams. "That's why putting the customer at the centre is critical because for the customer it doesn't matter what channel that they're going to interact with whether that's in store or online - so it's up to us to provide in- store experiences and services that complement the digital channel." He says markets such as the UK are further advanced than Australia when it comes to customer expectations around online retail and same day to next day delivery. And R.M. Williams had to raise the bar to compete there. Currently a quarter of R.M. Williams' sales come from outside of Australia and the retailer is supported by a small international store network including London and New York. Australia is still core to R.M. Williams but the retailer has an ambition to generate as much as 40 per cent of sales from offshore in coming years. Critically this will help protect the fashion label from swings in the local retail market. At some point Alexander expects a crossover where more sales will be generated from online than the physical store network. "Digital is a huge part of unlocking value for our customer," Alexander says. "This means we can better serve our customers both in Australia and internationally".