Ireland Retail Portal

How a UK web design company is working in Ireland to help a major consumer electronics brand build its profile with the retail community.

Client Brief

Our client is a well-loved brand everywhere, and in Ireland dominates most segments of a close-knit, highly competitive marketplace. These may be nice problems to have. But maintaining leadership position needs a smart approach and constant attention.

Our brief was to design and develop a web site aimed exclusively at front-line retail staff. The goal is to get their buy-in and support for ongoing marketing and consumer retention programs.

The site aims to reach out to retail staff across Ireland, providing them with up to date information, exciting and exclusive content and competitions. Its purpose is to engage and strengthen relationships with retail staff, to improve opinions and approval ratings - and of course to sell more products and services!

TBS Solution

Budget was initially tight, so TBS advised creating a basic pilot site to start of with. We could then see if there was genuinely a market for this portal, and what kind of content was successful.

Our web site design team devised a concept based around a community site. The idea was to create the sense of an exclusive club, and use it as a platform for unique content unavailable elsewhere on the internet.

We emphasised our client's brand and product category design in the user interface. This was designed so that retail staff would be used to the way of navigating around the site. It also provided a lot of continuity with the consumer website - and kept costs down by reusing basic templates and assets.

We made a universal login as a way of keeping content confidential, while making the site widely accessible to permitted users. We structured the pages and content around topics specifically interesting and exciting for retail staff.

Content included inside information useful to retailers and unique opportunities to be first to test-drive and keep up-and-coming products.

We created special content for specific new products - highlighting 'hot buttons' they could use in their sales pitch with shoppers. Retailers can also post their own comments and questions and get them answered by real people within the client for the local, personal touch.

It is not all work and no play. The site runs competitions with genuinely excellent, leisure-oriented prizes. And there are specially written news articles on themes that appeal to the audience's social demographic.

Successes

Our client got very positive initial feedback from the site, with plenty of interest in the competitions and new product test-drives. Market research has shown real interest in the site content, and new ideas and requests.

The pilot was a success, and further budget is becoming available to develop the portal and the concept behind it. TBS are developing a content managed upgrade, which will allow the portal to be updated more often, more flexibly and more cost-effectively.

Most exciting of all, the site will evolve to become a true social media tool. There are plans to develop new features, web applications and content on an ongoing basis. The result will be an engaging, Web 2.0-style dialogue between our client and this key user community - and a 'first' in the marketplace.