The New Nautica, Part 2 - N Series

The Nautica Jeans Co. website, and the technology behind it, is genius. In addition to the roll-out promotional site for the N-Series Collection (see previous post), is nauticajeansco.com, the main product website. It is so interactive, fun and educational that you get hooked to it immediately (talk about the stickiness factor). I really think that with all the competition within the online market this stands out as directional.

I absolutely love the Style Advisor section. The Style Advisor allows visitors to choose from a variety of lifestyle situations and then selects an appropriate outfit based on the their chosen lifestyle. The technology is fantastic as it allows the visitor to see a 360˚ life-like model modeling each outfit against a backdrop image of the lifestyle. In addition to the visuals, are pop up Style Notes that the visitor may read to get more of a well-rounded experience.

For example, one lifestyle, “Walking the Streets of New York”, puts the model in an emblazoned tee, black jeans and kicks. The style notes say, "The streets of New York are not Scorcese’ mean anymore. More people carry ipods than baseball bats, but that doesn’t mean the edge is gone. It’s still a concrete jungle out there and you want to look like you were born to roam it.” To further enhance the lifestyle is a backdrop image of an NYC subway station.

Other lifestyles a visitor can choose from include - Office on Friday, Dinner Party, Meeting Girls at the Club, Dinner with Girlfriend, Playing Poker, Pool Hall, Art Gallery, At a Concert, Hanging at Home, Pick-up Football and Lunch at Cafe.

What is even more interesting is that the visitor may pick their preferred type of jeans, i.e. Sandy Blue Dark Denim and then match it with a lifestyle situation i.e. Art Gallery and out pops an entire outfit. No need for a personal stylist- let nauticajeansco.com do it for you boys!

The N-Series jeans come in – Loose Fit, Big Ez, Classic Fit, Easy Fit, Big Baggy, Bootcut, and Carpenter and each style comes equipped with its own 360˚ image, detailed product information and a direct shopping link to Macys.com.

The site is fantastic. It appeals to the man with no style sense just as much as to the man with style sense. I think every online retailer catering to men should use this "style advisor" technology as a platform to engage their male customer. Actually, they should use it to entice and engage their entire customer base from young women to older men.

I think this technology breaks down the cookie-cutter online merchandising mold (of choosing a style, a color and a size and then waiting for the site to pop out with pre-determined selections) and adds some excitement to the online shopping experience. Once again bravo Nautica Co. for churning out such an engaging site, now all that is missing is one for the ladies.

Photos courtesy of Nautica Co.