Kiabi styles HR with Zendesk
Within the rapidly-changing clothing industry, Kiabi is turning its employee experience into a strategic asset to make the brand more attractive as an employer. The fashion label chose Zendesk to simplify internal HR processes, improve response times and better support its teams on a daily basis. The decision is already paying off, with an internal satisfaction rate of 93.7%.
“Now, everyone knows how to submit a request, where they can find information and how long it’ll take to get a response. It makes things easier for users and saves HR a lot of time. They can now work more efficiently and respond faster, thanks to a complete overview of each request. This helps improve their skills.”
Frédéric Tiberghien
Payroll Manager at Kiabi
Founded
1978
Revenue (2025)
€2.5 billion (+5% vs 2024)
Stores
640 (33 countries)
Employees
10,000+ worldwide (8,600 in France)
35,000
tickets handled per year
93.7%
CSAT
86%
SLA adherence
63%
via web
37%
via email
Kiabi tailors innovation for all consumers
Kiabi’s slogan has always been the same:
“fashion at low prices”. And more than forty-five years after opening its first shop in northern France, the ready-to-wear brand continues to thrive by providing low-cost fashion for all families.
Championing family-friendly and responsible fashion that’s accessible to all, Kiabi dresses 24 million customers every year from 640 stores across 33 countries, more than half of which are in France. It employs more than 10,000 people around the world, including around 8,600 employees in France. This global company has become a market leader, with its mission to provide clothing to all consumers without compromising on quality or price.
Amidst a shifting retail and clothing sector, Kiabi stands as the exception, with global sales of €2.5 billion and steady growth. Their secret? Continuously innovating and reinventing itself beyond just fashion. In tune with societal and environmental changes, the brand has expanded into the home decor market with brands such as KIABI HOME, and the second-hand market with Kiabi Beebs.
A better fit for employees
As hiring isn’t always easy in the retail sector, Kiabi considers HR issues strategic. The brand is convinced that “customers and employees deserve the same level of care”, which is why it views the employee experience as essential to retaining talent.
Kiabi was looking for a solution that could bring all of its internal requests together to simplify admin processes and streamline interactions in France, both for its in-store employees and its HR teams working behind the scenes. “We had a double-sided problem,” explains Frédéric Tiberghien, payroll manager within Kiabi’s HR department. “Our store managers were finding it difficult to access information because we didn’t have a reliable, secure and organised knowledge base. They would contact us mostly by email or phone about all kinds of topics, including payslips, absence management, working hours, leave, sick leave, questions about legislations or company agreements... When it came to following up, it was far from ideal and took up a lot of time. We didn’t really have any way to track things.”
Given the situation, the company recognised that it needed an up-to-date HR knowledge base for all employees to access. “Like our IT department, we wanted to implement a ticketing system that could track every request from start to finish.”
Zendesk delivers, today and tomorrow
With this in mind, Kiabi launched a call for tenders to help them find the solution best suited to their needs. And in early 2024, the fashion retailer agreed that Zendesk measured up. “We found that Zendesk Suite Enterprise ticked the most boxes,” reveals Frédéric Tiberghien.
Several factors gave Zendesk the edge, including its ability to create a clear knowledge base, how easy it is to use pre-written responses via macros and its built-in AI features. “Whether we want to use a chatbot, keyword search or automatic suggestions for agents, it has everything we need right now and can evolve with us in the future.”
Ease of us was also a decisive factor. “My team found it easy to learn and very user-friendly, especially when it comes to searching for documents.”
Seamless implementation, standout results
Once Kiabi had chosen the solution, it was quick and easy to set up. Thanks to dedicated support from SEIF, Zendesk was up and running in just a few weeks. “The transition was really fast, not only for our HR teams but also users in our stores and at head office,” emphasises Frédéric Tiberghien. “We also provided customer relationship training to help the HR team improve how they respond to and interact with employees via Zendesk.”
The tool found its feet very quickly, underpinned by the Zendesk Knowledge Base. “HR now handles around 3,000 requests a month in Zendesk, with peaks during sales periods and at the start of the new school year in September. Email numbers have halved, in favour of a web interface that brings interactions together in one place and makes it easier to follow up. Users now make 63% of requests through the portal, compared to 37% by email. The interface is also used by external organisations such as France Travail and URSSAF.”
Satisfaction was inevitable. “Our satisfaction rate is now at 93.7%, even though our original target was only 80%. We’re meeting our service level agreements (SLAs) in 86% of cases. Response times vary from 24 to 72 hours, depending on the urgency of the request. Zendesk helps us prioritise tickets more effectively.” These improvements benefit everyone. “Now, everyone knows how to submit a request, where they can find information and how long it’ll take to get a response. It makes things easier for users and saves HR a lot of time. They can now work more efficiently and respond faster, thanks to a complete overview of each request. This helps improve their skills.”
Zendesk has also proven very user-friendly for administrators. “If I need to work differently tomorrow, I can change my views and adjust my settings. We can do everything ourselves without having to go through an integrator. And it’s all done in real time. That’s extremely helpful.”
Future trends: AI and other departments
Buoyed by these results and a rapid return on investment, Kiabi is already looking to the future. One project currently underway looks at how the company can leverage the AI features offered by Zendesk. The aim is to save HR teams time by suggesting pre-written responses from the Knowledge Base. “For simple requests, we’re currently testing auto-generated suggestions that agents can then check and adapt. And, in the long term, I think we might start testing an HR chatbot again,” Frédéric Tiberghien reveals.
Other departments are also starting to use Zendesk, with accounting as the most recent adopter. And more internal departments are expected to follow suit.
Beyond operational gains, these changes are part of a broader ambition to improve the daily employee experience, boost engagement, retain talent and ultimately set Kiabi up as an attractive employer for the long term.
