A Happier Workforce Means Happier Customers for French Clothing Retailer Kiabi

European fashion retailer Kiabi believes that a happy, connected workforce means happier, more satisfied customers. The company has taken a big step in that direction with a Jive Interactive Intranet.

Kiabi is a popular French fashion retailer with roughly 1,000 company-owned and franchise stores across Europe and €1.9 billion in sales from 20 million customers. The company is on a mission to “clothe the world in happiness” – and that applies as much inside the organization as it does outside. Kiabi believes happier, more engaged workers make for better customer service and a happier, more satisfied clientele.

Now Kiabi is taking that philosophy further with its new Jive Interactive Intranet. For the first time, the company’s 8,700 employees – 80% of then deskless workers – will be able to connect, share their enthusiasm and work together to deliver exceptional customer experiences. “At Kiabi the human element is fundamental, it’s part of our culture,” says Christelle Archambault, Kiabi’s Director of Strategic Planning and Communication. “Thanks to Jive we can share and spread these values.”

Transcript

At Kiabi, we have about 8,700 employees and 80% of them don’t have an office – they’re deskless. So it was a real challenge to keep everyone informed and connected with their colleagues around the world. Our mission statement at Kiabi, jointly created by all of our employees, is “to clothe the world in happiness.” At the same time, in recent years we’ve launched a major effort to transform our company, helping to empower employees and increase their job satisfaction. Jive has a big role to play in this transformation.

There are a number of reasons we chose Jive. First of all, it integrates really well with our Office 365 environment. It’s also very easy for our employees to use and navigate. That’s a core part of its user experience. And Jive is a company whose vision aligns with ours: helping people work better in an environment they really like.

Thanks to this new platform we’re now able to reinvent our communication and collaboration for the future. We can break up silos in the organization. It really addresses our need to drive profound changes in the enterprise and implement new, better ways of working together.

At Kiabi the human element is fundamental, It’s part of our culture. Our founder, when he started Kiabi, said, “I’m doing a job I love for people I love, with people I love.” So that spirit has been part of our DNA from the beginning, and we see it every day in our stores and across the company. That’s what people love about Kiabi. Thanks to Jive we can share and spread these values. I’d strongly recommend that my counterparts in other retail companies adopt these tools that really make life and work better for everyone.