Healthy Directions is in a business where trust and authority are crucial to engaging audiences and ultimately converting them into customers. Complicating matters is the fact that they operate in a regulated industry. Their new site delivers the credibility they’ve earned over the years, while at the same time cleanly connects consumers to the information and products they came for. For instance, user searches return products, but also articles, blog posts, and more. And once a customer becomes a devotee of a vitamin or supplement, using functionality WebLinc built, he or she can sign up for AutoDelivery, which ships products to customers’ doorsteps automatically, at intervals of their choosing.

Only WebLinc Direct was able to offer Healthy Directions the scalability and flexibility they needed to meet their requirements, which include but go above and beyond catalog functionality, reporting, content management, search engine optimization tools and more.

These days, the store boasts closer to 18 miles of books (more than 2.5 million!), and now they are available online with a brand-new eCommerce site launched on WebLinc Direct.

The site helps bring the Strand experience to users around the globe by offering many of the same in-store features online. With Books by the Foot, customers can have a whole library curated for them by Strand staff, and they’ve done just that for clients including the Waldorf-Astoria, Steven Spielberg, and J Crew. If you need help finding a truly special and unique gift, try the personal shopper service — and they can gift wrap your purchase, too.

Strand Books’ New York location hosts a number of readings and events for authors, many of whom autograph a limited number of copies of their books. Unable to attend an event and get your book signed? You can still get a signed copy of many of these authors’ books via the site’s pre-order feature.

Check out Strand for yourself by visiting their YouTube channel and taking a tour of the store with the Strand Book Store’s owner, Fred Bass.

Urban Outfitters Inc. has been working with WebLinc since the late 90s, collaborating on a number of other fashionable sites including Leifsdottir and Free People Wholesale. Thanks to the innate flexibility of the WebLinc Direct eCommerce platform, the Wee People line was launched without the need for much involvement from the WebLinc tech staff. It’s also one of several kids’ clothing brands running on WebLinc Direct. Others include Hartstrings and Tori Spelling’s childrens clothing line, Little Maven.

]]> http://blog.weblinc.com/wee-people-debuts/feed/ 1 http://blog.weblinc.com/progressive-lighting-doubles-online-sales/ http://blog.weblinc.com/progressive-lighting-doubles-online-sales/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:34:24 +0000 admin http://blog.weblinc.com/?p=188 When Progressive Lighting re-launched its eCommerce store, LightsOnline.com, with WebLinc Direct, remarkable signs of success started showing after just the first month:

• Online sales doubled

• Conversion rates increased nearly twofold

• Site traffic increased dramatically

Progressive Lighting chose WebLinc because they needed an eCommerce solution that offered the showcase their products require. What they got was a fresh new redesign with easy-to-update content areas featuring interior design suggestions and inspiring articles and how-to videos. This content not only gives the Progressive Lighting team a space for search engine optimized copy, but also gives them a place to offer customers the kind of creative and conceptual ideas that prompt customers to convert, in addition to helping them choose how they want to light their homes. Also lending a hand to the increased conversion rates are a swath of new merchandising tools that come standard with WebLinc Direct such as new product detail features, high-resolution image zooms, a powerful promotions engine, faceted navigation and more.

“At our state-of-the-art Progressive Lighting and Lee Lighting retail showrooms, we give our customers the star treatment,” said Troy Lee, General Manager of Progressive Lighting, Inc. “With LightsOnline.com, we can now offer the same personalized experience to a national audience of customers.”

One common mistake is showing only one product image. This is especially important for apparel stores, where the product imagery likely does more to sell the product than anything else. Says Smashing Magazine:

This one’s simple: include more images. Four or five images of each product are ideal, offering enough views to allow a consumer to feel comfortable that they know exactly what they’re getting.

Another common mistake is not including related products on product pages. Just as an in-store mannequin shows customers how different products look when worn together, product-page cross-sells and suggestions can go along way in increasing total order size:

Use an ecommerce platform that lets you include related products on product description pages. A platform that will let you manually choose related products can also give you a big advantage, since you may see relations that a software program doesn’t (such as coordinating clothing pieces to create an outfit).

Cross-sells are important for all kinds of products — from clothing to scientific equipment to consumables. The WebLinc Direct eCommerce platform includes the ability to easily manage cross-sells on product pages, as well as up-sells on cart pages. For a demonstration of how WebLinc’s cross-sell and up-sell technology works, contact us here.

]]> http://blog.weblinc.com/15-common-ecommerce-design-mistakes/feed/ 0 http://blog.weblinc.com/weblinc-launches-island-moana/ http://blog.weblinc.com/weblinc-launches-island-moana/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:38:26 +0000 admin http://blog.weblinc.com/?p=93 Earlier today, WebLinc launched the new eCommerce site for Island Moana, which brings together products from Hawaii’s best designers, artists, brands and collections. The site features a vast array of Hawaiian specialty goods, including foods, island jewelry, bath and body products, flowers and leis and unique Hawaiian wedding gifts. The founders of Island Moana met on the islands and got married in 2004. Hawaii has a special place in their lives and as such, they invite customers to join the Island Moana community by talking story with them. “Talking story” is a local Hawaiian term that describes how the people of the islands share the art of story telling with their Ohana (family) and friends. Visit the site to share your stories of the Islands, learn interesting tidbits about the 50th State, and stock up on Chocolate Dipped Macadamia Nut Biscotti.

PHILADELPHIA, PA, January 28, 2009 – Hartmarx Corp. division Barrie Pace, a multi-channel merchant of high-end classic women’s apparel, has teamed up with WebLinc to re-launch their eCommerce site, barriepace.com.

The retail giant’s website has a host of slick new features and functionality resulting in a new site that lives up to the brand’s stellar reputation. Advanced search gets customers to the products they are looking for faster than ever, and shoppers can use the tiered discount system to browse according to price. A brand-new “Shop by Ensemble” tool groups products together to form packages that can be sold separately or together as a single unit. The “Shop by Catalog” view mimics the currently released catalogs for customers accustomed to the traditional catalog format.

WebLinc’s proprietary SEO technologies and tactics have enabled immediate metrics boosts across the board, pushing page visits up nearly 300%, and returns on generic search terms have grown nearly 100%. The use of dynamic, flexible shopping feeds generated for partners such as BizRate and Yahoo! Shopping also help drive qualified traffic to the site.

Barrie Pace was ranked 234 in Internet Retailer’s Top 500, and as such, WebLinc had a lot to live up to coming into this project. With metrics on the rise, a classic-yet-contemporary design, and an easy-to-update administrative console, the new barriepace.com lives up to the brand’s status and more. 

Lori Krzyzewski, VP Marketing and Advertising at Barrie Pace/Hartmarx, says, “We are extremely excited about the launch of the new site.  Not only are we able to provide our customers a better shopping experience, we are also able to more effectively optimize the site for organic search. We anticipate, with these increases in site traffic, we will realize higher conversion.”

About Barrie Pace

Barrie Pace is a multi-channel retailer (web and catalog) that specializes in high-end women’s apparel.  Barrie Pace is a division of Hartmarx, the world-renowned leader in exceptional apparel for work and leisure.  Hartmarx produces and markets business, casual and golf apparel under its own brands, including Hart Schaffner Marx, Hickey-Freeman, Palm Beach, Sansabelt, and Exclusively Misook along with having certain exclusive rights under licensing agreements to market selected products under a number of premier brands such as Austin Reed, Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry men’s tailored clothing, Ted Baker, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Claiborne, Pierre Cardin, and Perry Ellis.

About WebLinc

WebLinc eCommerce develops powerful, flexible, and scalable eCommerce solutions for clients including Free People, AAA, Vineyard Vines, K&L Wines, Haband, and Oneida. Headquartered in Philadelphia with a satellite office in Manhattan, WebLinc is a privately owned company with 15 years experience developing systems that drive sales and increase conversions. Unlike many platforms, WebLinc Direct eCommerce v8.1 is flexible enough to allow for custom functionalities that meet clients’ unique business needs. WebLinc’s Product and Content Management System also allows for the creation of W3C and WCAG compliant XHTML and CSS, and the easy-to-use administration area includes call center tools, powerful discounting tools, dynamic merchandising, and checkout/cart functionality. Additional information can be accessed at weblinc.com or by calling 215-925-1800.

Terms, Terms, Terms
Section 508 – In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible technology interferes with an individual’s ability to obtain and use information quickly and easily. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to create new opportunities for people with disabilities and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Source: http://section508.gov

ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 – The ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. It expands upon the protections in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal. Source: http://wikipedia.org

W3C – World Wide Web Consortium – The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. Source: http://w3.org

WAI – W3C Web Accessibility Initiative – The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) works with organizations around the world to develop strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities. Source: http://w3.org/wai

WCAG – W3C WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines – The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) documents explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Web “content” generally refers to the information in a Web page or Web application, including text, images, forms, sounds, and such. Source: http://w3.org/wai

The Breakdown
Definitions are helpful, but you’re probably still scratching your head. I’ll try and simplify it more for you… First and foremost, the Americans with Disabilities Act focuses more on discrimination of people with disabilities in the real world, not the electronic or virtual one. You can read more about the ADA on their web site, http://ada.gov.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act forces all Federal agencies to provide electronic information in an accessible format. The Assistive Technology Act of 2004 (an amendment to Section 508) requires many state level agencies to comply with Section 508 as well. But, what they don’t tell you is that Section 508 is based off of the W3C WAI WCAG; did you catch all that? That’s the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative’s (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. So, if you are compliant with WCAG, then you are compliant with Section 508 (for the most part). There are few differences between Section 508 and WCAG, but the important thing to note is that WCAG will offer more up to date guidelines to follow.
Jim Thatcher has put together a side-by-side comparison of Section 508 and WCAG 1.0 if you’re interested in seeing the differences. http://www.jimthatcher.com/sidebyside.htm.

How does accessibility apply to your online presence?
Online accessibility is as important to your web site as ramps and automatic doors are to a brick & mortar business – it needs to be accessible for people with disabilities in order for them to purchase your product or service. If you choose to disregard people with disabilities when building a store or web site, it could have serious ramifications. For instance, a class action suit against Target.com (Target’s ecommerce web site) was brought about in California last year. These types of law suits against major retailers have increased in recent years and are prompting many ecommerce retailers to overhaul their sites to include accessibility features.

Many organizations, like the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), are pushing for legislation to require all web sites to be accessible for people with disabilities – similar to the Section 508 requirements placed on federal & state agency web sites.

What does it all mean?
Whether you’re publishing a small blog (about that weird mole on your back), or running a multi-million dollar ecommerce web site, accessibility is important. People with disabilities should be able to navigate your site, read your content, and purchase a product with ease. Developing a site that enables people with disabilities to do that should be a fundamental tool in a web developer’s tool belt.

In the upcoming posts in this series we’ll be covering what goes into making a site accessible for people with disabilities and examining some assistive technologies.

We encourage you to bring your personality to the table, wear what you’re comfortable in and, most importantly, be given the means to truly excel by working with smart and funny co-workers on big name brands in a truly egalitarian environment.

We’ve even got a bar/restaurant downstairs where you can swap stories with co-workers about run-ins with the law, music, movies and business over drinks and dinner. Our libertarian leanings, progressive practices and business savvy aren’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for a workplace full benefits, and the chance to see your work make a difference; it does exist, and it’s right here.

WebLinc is hiring. View our Careers page for our current openings and apply.

Regardless of the type of page, for this example they are all categorized as landing pages. A landing page is simply the first page a visitor encounters on a website. Many websites utilize their home page as their most frequent, and sometimes only, landing page.

Sometimes the home page is a good landing page, and sometimes it is not depending on the product and/or visitor. However, what is most important about any landing page is that it have a few common traits.

First, it must be relevant to the search phrase linking to it. A clothing manufacturer should not send visitors who searched on swimwear to the fall collection category page. Ideally, you would like to have a nice snug fit between search phrase and resulting landing page.

Sending the swimsuit visitor to the swimsuit subcategory page, or perhaps a particular swimsuit product page will result in higher conversion then sending it to the women clothes category or to a home page without swimming suits on it.

Second, it should have an easy way to navigate off the landing page and onto other relevant or similar pages. No matter how carefully landing pages are planned, there are always going to be visitors who are brought to a landing page that does not match what they were looking for. It is at this critical juncture that navigation plays a huge role in conversion.

If the visitor is presented with easy to find links to similar items or content, or has easy access to the web site’s internal search, there is still a chance to convert the visitor. If the landing page is a one way street, a page with confusing or muddled navigational properties, it is highly likely that the visitor will bounce (bouncing is a term used to describe visitors who only see one page of a website and then leave).

Lastly, the landing page needs a call to action. Two of the biggest mistakes websites make is offering either too many calls to action or none at all. A call to action is simply a suggestion or offer made to the visitor that leads them into the beginning of the buying funnel. Many times if you simply ask a visitor for their business, and hold their hand a bit walking them through the process, conversion rates will increase dramatically.

The mistake comes when either there is no call to action at all, or there are too many calls to action on the same page which dilutes the power of each. Examples of calls to action would be Free Shipping Links, Promotions, Add to Cart Button …anything that propositions the visitors to proceed further into the web site, and eventually, into a converted sale.

The role of the analytic tool here is to measure the effectiveness of individual landing pages, various calls to action, and landing page designs. The analytics tool will help identify landing pages with high and low bounce rates, measure the effectiveness of a banner ad promo (top) and a tower ad promo (side), time on site, average page depth (number of pages per visit), and more.

Analysis again leads to testing and determinations about which elements work best together and result in the highest conversion rates. (If you haven’t yet, read part one of our series here.) Stay tuned for Part III of our eCommerce Conversion Funnel – Optimizing Checkout & Cross Selling.