Luxury retail firm, Selfridges, has announced the relaunch of its e-commerce site in a bid to encourage more of its customers to shop online, according to City AM.

The retailer is planning to spend £40 million on improving its online offerings, which is a not insignificant amount of cash, considering that it only created its first e-commerce site back in 2010.

One of the reasons that the new site has been built is the rising number of customers who are choosing to visit it from portable devices rather than desktop or laptop PCs. Close to two thirds of visitors now browse from a tablet or smartphone, meaning that the optimised, updated e-commerce platform will be much better suited to their needs.

The relaunch has also allowed Selfridges to add many new brands to its site, in addition to setting up a click & collect service, that will let consumers place orders via safe shopping online which they can then pick up in-store.

The firm is following in the footsteps of Amazon by embracing a wish list feature, allowing people to curate their own catalogues of products that they would like to own. And there will be more written content available on the site, with professional fashion experts providing up to the minute coverage of the latest trends.

The site is not only having to cater to customers in the UK but also a growing overseas audience, with buyers from Asia and North America helping to boost its sales. As such, the significant investment will help to broaden its reach further and penetrate new markets in the future.

Selfridges may be pushing for online success, but it is still very much set on sustaining its bricks and mortar presences as well, because of course, multichannel retail is the way forward.