A Multi-Device Digital Workplace that Connects Employees Across Brands

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About Galeries Lafayette Group

Specialising in city-centre fashion retailing, the Galeries Lafayette group is a leader in omni-channel retailing that promotes the French “Art of Living” through its brands, in France as well as overseas. Strengthened by its architectural heritage and a strong innovative culture, the Galeries Lafayette group receives more than 60 million visitors every year in its 290 stores and e-commerce websites globally.

Over time, the Group has grown the international recognition of its iconic brands: Galeries Lafayette, BHV MARAIS, La Redoute, Eataly Paris Marais, Galeries Lafayette-Royal Quartz Paris, Louis Pion, Mauboussin and BazarChic.

+10 000 employees

Internal Communications

Retail

Galeries Lafayette’s Digital Transformation

In 2019, Galeries Lafayette decided to transform its internal communication tool. This project was strategic. In retail, the effort is at the service of customers. Offering a new solution to its employees was a new way of thinking and working. The chosen solution had to fit company culture and meet employees’ expectations.

Before 2019, Galeries Lafayette had a homegrown intranet that was mainly used as a platform for document storage that was rarely updated over the years. Since the last redesign in 2012, it did not support social features, customization, or videos and it was not secure enough.

Only accessible on office computers, this tool left behind a large part of Galeries Lafayette’s employees since 75% of the teams are deskless and work in stores. The only communication relays were local managers and in-person meetings.

However, intranet’s adoption was high and employees showed a real appetite to consume content. Local initiatives emerged (private accounts on Instagram and Facebook, a dedicated mobile app, whatsapp groups…) but were not scalable. As a result, communications were inconsistent and siloed, with varying sources of information.

In this context, Galeries Lafayette started looking for a new tool to:

Inform all employees of corporate and local news: communication governance is based in the company’s headquarters but there remain many local specificities

Include all employees with a tool available on the go and in all stores (mobile and tablet devices)

Be 100% autonomous: the intranet is managed by the communication teams so an easy and flexible tool with no coding skills required was important

Galeries Lafayette & LumApps

*Available for Galeries Lafayette, BHV MARAIS, Eataly Paris Marais, headquarter and corporate functions. In deployment at Galeries Lafayette-Royal Quartz Paris and Louis Pion

With LumApps, Galeries Lafayette designed a central hub for all employees*, gathering corporate information and local news. All content is personalized and employees can find the right information at the right time, based on their profile and business unit. This new hub is now the single entry point to business applications, corporate documents, HR materials, and news for all employees.

Another major improvement: deskless workers have access to Galeries Lafayette intranet as well, thanks to a mobile-responsive tool. All employees have a digital identity and can use store computers or personal smartphones to browse the platform and consume corporate content. The solution is very flexible and allows employees to connect from many devices, including store smartphones that Galeries Lafayette is progressively equipping its vendors with.

With a communication team based in the company’s headquarters and a few relays for each brand, the company built its platform with a simple architecture and governance. LumApps allows Galeries Lafayette to choose the best solution to its needs. To avoid multiple sites, all entities are gathered in the same platform but stores have their own pages.

For smaller stores, Galeries Lafayette recently launched a pilot in different stores, using communities to share local news. Once again, the governance stays simple and the use of the tool is flexible and accessible to everyone. As a result, even small stores can now share info with all their employees.

Named 360 Galeries, the intranet embodies Galeries Lafayette’s values, connecting everyone to ensure that all employees have the right information to maintain the best customer service.

“This new tool is fully in line with our transformation process

by making it possible to improve the connection between all our points of sale and thus improve our network operations. It is also a solution that finally allows us to unite all in-store and warehouse teams that do not own a computer. In the face of rapid changes in the retail sector, it has become essential to equip these employees who are at the service of our customers. With the introduction of new technologies in stores, such as tablets, we need to promote easy access to information, collaboration and sharing of best practices as close to the field as possible.”

– Marie-Laure Tsimbidima, Training and Internal Communications Director at Galeries Lafayette

Key Use Cases

Digital magazine

Galeries Lafayette used to print a magazine with latest trends, stories about the industry or feature employee profiles. Today, the magazine is digital and built-in to their intranet, which provides much more flexibility. It took three months to create it, and now the company can quickly update or publish new content.

Customer Voice Corner

In retail, the customer is always the primary concern of employees. To keep the intranet business-oriented, Galeries Lafayette shares NPS and store’s KPIs directly on the homepage. In this way, employees stay informed and are aware of the impact of their work.

One group, many brands

A group as Galeries Lafayette grows regularly. The flexibility of the tool enables it to welcome any new brands in the company and give it a dedicated space in the intranet very easily. The new entity takes advantage of corporate news while having and customizing its own page, without any dedicated communication team.

Multiple device accessibility

To connect all employees, Galeries Lafayette is device-agnostic. Stores and employees connect not only from computers, in offices and stores, but also from their personal smartphones. Having a digital identity for each employee and allowing personal devices is an efficient way to connect its frontline workers.

Key Results

7,800

Active users per month

〜10

New content posts per week

12%

Users on mobile by end of 2020

Since the intranet launched over a year ago, Galeries Lafayette has been constantly pushing it forward. The internal communication team is fully autonomous and can very often launch new projects.

Whether during special operations or in times of crisis, Galeries Lafayette adjusts the homepage to the situation. Content, design… everything can be customized. And to recreate consistency between pages after many changes, the homepage is being redesigned with the help of LumApps’ partner, Wedocom.

New smartphones which are deployed in stores allow Galeries Lafayette’s deskless employees to have easier and quicker access to the intranet. Connecting everyone through as many devices as possible allows the company to reach employees at any time. During COVID crisis, only a minority of employees would have been reached by email if Galeries Lafayette had not launched a mobile intranet one year ago.

To further this path, Galeries Lafayette works very closely with its LumApps customer success manager to launch a mobile application. A new mobile app will help to broaden the scope of internal communication and offer a smooth digital experience to all employees.