Customer messaging leader, Heyday AI, announced today a global partnership with iconic fashion and apparel brand, Lacoste, to deliver more personalized customer experiences to online shoppers around the world.
The globally-acclaimed brand selected Heyday’s conversational platform after a robust request-for-proposal process that pitted the fast-growing Montreal-based startup against other vendors in France, in the UK and in the US.
Heyday’s vertically-integrated retail messaging solution for sales and support teams, along with its advanced conversational AI capabilities available in multiple languages, set it apart from other vendors to win the highly-coveted deal spanning across more than 20 countries.
“Lacoste recognized the need to find new ways to better connect with online shoppers amid the pandemic and keep on delivering the premium service and customer experience they are known for”, said Steve Desjarlais, co-founder and CEO of Heyday AI. “In this new ‘at-home economy’, Heyday’s customer messaging platform is helping retailers bring their in-store experience online, via their customers’ preferred digital channels and messaging apps. We are proud to partner up with such a distinguished and forward-looking brand and we can’t wait to deploy the power of Heyday’s platform on Lacoste’s ecommerce websites worldwide.”
Part shopping assistant, part virtual support agent, Heyday’s all-in-one customer messaging platform combines the power of conversational AI with the human touch of sales and support teams to deliver a seamless and personalized customer experience at scale. Its integration with digital channels and popular messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Google’s Business Messages (inside Google Maps), combined with product feeds from platforms like Salesforce, Shopify, Magento, Lightspeed and PrestaShop, makes it a complete solution for retailers who want to turn more site visitors into buyers, and transform customer service from a cost center into a revenue generator.
We believe buying from a brand should be as easy as messaging a friend.
“The pandemic is changing the face of commerce forever. Social media and messaging apps are the new storefronts and support channels where customers expect instant and personalized service.”, said Etienne Mérineau, co-founder and CMO of Heyday AI. “Lacoste knew it had to position itself across these new touchpoints to engage customers on a personal level and bridge the gap between the online and offline experience. Heyday will help their global support teams and store associates increase their operational excellence and boost customer satisfaction while keeping costs under control thanks to the power of Conversational AI.”
As reported by McKinsey in 2020, the future of retail arrived ten years early. This pandemic-induced digital acceleration and disruption accelerated the adoption of ecommerce and, as a result, of Heyday’s solution. In the last two quarters, the customer messaging company has doubled its recurring revenue and grew its headcount to 60 employees. To support this surge in growth, Heyday also announced today a $6.5M CAD ($5.1M USD) Seed round extension to continue its expansion in the US and worldwide.
“We believe buying from a brand should be as easy as messaging a friend,” added Etienne Mérineau, co-founder of Heyday AI. “Heyday was built to provide a digital-first customer experience and we are proud to enable global brands like Lacoste to usher in a new era of digital clienteling and personalization at scale.”
Heyday is already trusted by hundreds of retailers and ecommerce merchants across 77 countries, including Lacoste, Decathlon, Jack & Jones, DAVIDsTEA, Danone, La Maison Simons, Dynamite Group, and more, and is a primary messaging partner of Google (Google Business Messages) and Shopify (Ping).
About Heyday
Heyday is an AI-powered customer messaging platform that helps retailers optimize and monetize their customer experience at scale. Heyday was built to give AI superpowers to in-store associates and customer service agents by augmenting them with chatbots that act as the first line of service across touchpoints and manage repetitive requests on their behalf, so that they can focus their energy on higher-value conversations. Our platform integrates with popular messaging apps, branded ecommerce websites and apps, product feeds, and more than 400 shipping providers to provide customers with an always-on virtual helping hand and bridge the gap between the online and offline retail experience.
About Lacoste
Since the very first polo was created in 1933, Lacoste relies on its authentic sportive roots to spring optimism and elegance on the world thanks to a unique and original lifestyle for women, men and children. With a vision to be the leading player in the premium casual wear market, the Crocodile brand is today present in 120 countries through a selective distribution network. Two Lacoste items are sold every second in the world. As an international group gathering 10,000 women and men, Lacoste offers a complete range of products: apparel, leather goods, fragrances, footwear, eyewear, home wear, watches and underwear, all of them being elaborated in the most qualitative, responsible and ethical way. In 2016, the brand garnered a turnover of more than 2 billion euros.