Who Knew? Urban Outfitters is an E-Commerce Role Model

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After an e-commerce push that nearly doubled Urban Outfitters' profits in the last few months, the retailer announced that it's going full steam ahead on the online front. But they want to make moves intelligently, naturally: The company's CEO Richard Hayne told WWD, "[UO is] still in a very early stage of unlocking the potential that the Internet and mobile technologies bring to the consumer industry. The extraordinary rate of change these disruptive forces create brings both significant risk and opportunity." Well, so far, so good.

For some context, the company began ramping up its e-commerce dedicated IT department last fall, and has since been tweaking online strategy. (Recall, they were one of the first retail companies to hop on Twitter's Vine train, and they've upped their video output, which, however gross it can be, is entirely on-brand.)

Hayne also pointed to the company's "pick, pack, and ship" policy, in which online orders are fulfilled from stores when distribution centers were out-of-stock. The setup allowed for more orders filled and less excess stock.

As for the future? Hayne said, "Eventually the Web will be a more robust place to sell full-price and higher-price merchandise, and we're seeing that in a number of the brands."
· Urban Outfitters Profits Double, Puts Focus on Web [WWD]
· Urban Outfitters One of the First Brands to Adopt Twitter's 'Vine' [Racked]
· Urban Outfitters Asks That You Get Your Sh*t Together [Racked]