Pod1 Blog

Pod1 has been enlisted by designer outlet operator Value Retail to overhaul its online offering, from site design and build to online marketing strategy as part of a three-year agreement. Value Retail specialises exclusively in the operation of high-end outlet shopping villages serving Europe’s major cities.

The primary objective of the re-design is for the websites to act as a conversion tool, encouraging online users to visit the villages. In addition, it aims to create a platform for its customer base, allowing them to interact with the brand and each other.

For this international and multilingual project, Pod1’s brief is to capitalise on the existing reach of the current nine village sites while bringing the online marketing together under the Chic Outlet Shopping® in Europe banner, to increase footfall at the individual villages.

Fadi Shuman, founder of Pod1, commented: “Value Retail has redefined outlet shopping by introducing glamour – there’s nothing else like this out there at the moment. The online refit will allow users to visualise what a visit to one of the villages is like, and will promote the notion that as well as being a more affordable method of buying high-end fashion, visiting one of the Value Retail operated villages provides a rewarding shopping experience.”

Nora Rothrock, digital director at Value Retail, commented: “With this new online initiative, we will be engaging with the customer through a content rich website and the use of rich media. It’s more than just online marketing; it’s about embracing the ‘age of conversation’ and enabling the consumer to have open conversations about their experience with Value Retail and each other.”

Value Retail is the only company that specialises exclusively in the development and operation of luxury outlet shopping villages, of which there are nine in Europe hosting prestigious fashion and lifestyle brands such as Anya Hindmarch, Bally, Salvatore Ferragamo and Smythson. Each village is positioned as an ‘exceptional shopping destination’ through exclusive partnerships with leading travel industry and media groups including Relais & Châteaux, Orient Express and Condé Nast, and through affiliations with premium credit card issuers.

Pod1 has been enlisted by designer outlet operator Value Retail to overhaul its online offering, from site design and build to online marketing strategy as part of a three-year agreement. Value Retail specialises exclusively in the operation of high-end outlet shopping villages serving Europe’s major cities.

The primary objective of the re-design is for the websites to act as a conversion tool, encouraging online users to visit the villages. In addition, it aims to create a platform for its customer base, allowing them to interact with the brand and each other.

For this international and multilingual project, Pod1’s brief is to capitalise on the existing reach of the current nine village sites while bringing the online marketing together under the Chic Outlet Shopping® in Europe banner, to increase footfall at the individual villages.

Fadi Shuman, founder of Pod1, commented: “Value Retail has redefined outlet shopping by introducing glamour – there’s nothing else like this out there at the moment. The online refit will allow users to visualise what a visit to one of the villages is like, and will promote the notion that as well as being a more affordable method of buying high-end fashion, visiting one of the Value Retail operated villages provides a rewarding shopping experience.”

Nora Rothrock, digital director at Value Retail, commented: “With this new online initiative, we will be engaging with the customer through a content rich website and the use of rich media. It’s more than just online marketing; it’s about embracing the ‘age of conversation’ and enabling the consumer to have open conversations about their experience with Value Retail and each other.”

Value Retail is the only company that specialises exclusively in the development and operation of luxury outlet shopping villages, of which there are nine in Europe hosting prestigious fashion and lifestyle brands such as Anya Hindmarch, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo and Versace. Each village is positioned as an ‘exceptional shopping destination’ through exclusive partnerships with leading travel industry and media groups including Relais & Châteaux, Orient Express and Condé Nast, and through affiliations with premium credit card issuers.

Best practice tells us that I should start this post with an image so I do.

This will significantly improve the number of readers to finish reading this post. So I hope you will, and Goggle will tell me if you actually did. The industry average length of a blog posting is between 100 and 249 words (see above) so I will try to stick with this.

This brings me to what I want to write about. “Industry averages” and “Best practice”. Two of the most commonly used buzz words these days only topped by “We’ll make it totally Web 2.0“.

Many people see Best Practice as “Everyone does it” or even worse “My competitor does it so it must be good.” There was a wonderful blogpost from our friends at getelsatic.com. They compared 101 Add To Cart buttons. The language alone tells you that these guys are Americans. So if we look at these buttons, what does this tell us? Correct, there doesn’t seem to be a ‘best practice’. Ok 58% use the phrase “Add to Cart” but that will probably not convert many visitors in the UK. So there goes best practice again.

Industry averages are seen as a tool to compare your site, just like Top 10 charts are. However, just like Top 10 Charts, industry averages measure, well, averages…and miss out on an awful lot of things on the way. Conversion Rate (beware the buzz-word-o-meter here) Industry Avergaes is what most of our clients ask us for. Well the answer is not that simple. Commonly the answer would be between 2.5% and 3%. However, if I take for example the Top 10 list of the top converting retail sites I would see a very different picture. First of all these sites convert at 14% and above. For the sake of argument we could say that we should only take the flower companies, if you are a flower business, and we see that the average site converts at 24.35%. Both figures are far away from the Industry Average that you will find in other corners of the Internet.

So what does industry average tell you? I propose that it tells you absolutely nothing, zilch, nil, nada. It isn’t even good for a comparison if you narrow down the number of websites looked at. The all important question here is: “The industry Average Conversion rate is between 2-3%” “AND? What now?” So how are you doing if you convert at 10%? Converting at 10% still means that you don’t convert 90% of your traffic and there is something you can do about it to get your business to convert better.

“So what now?” you ask? The answer is very simple. Instead of asking for Best Practice and Industry Averages you should look at your customers and see what they prefer. Just because Amazon uses a 5-step checkout and makes millions of bucks doesn’t mean that you should use 5 steps. Just because the industry average conversion rate is 2% you shouldn’t give yourself a pad on the back and say: “Great, let’s all go and party in Vegas next weekend, Analytics tells us we convert at 3%”.

Do an exit survey and ask for Customer Satisfaction (No don’t even think about adding a How Did You Hear About Us). Dig down into your analytics, or let us do it for you, and see where you loose the remaining 97% of your traffic. Or start by trying to shift your CEOs business orientated view “It’s all about the Brand”, to a more customer centric experience “Do they find what they are looking for?”. If you are interested, here are some case studies we did.

This post is well above 500 words but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

Any questions, just email me.

The .net Awards were created to celebrate the best in web design and development from across the industry. The awards are divided into 14 categories for 2008, these range from the afore mentioned Design Agency of the Year Award and include awards for Viral Campaign of the Year, Podcast of the Year and Blog of the Year. The awards are designed to combine public opinion with the views of an expert panel of judges from across the industry.

So to vote for your favourite web design agency or any of the other awards visit www.thenetawards.com,

PS. Pod1 is the eighth one down in category number 9 just in case you’re in a hurry;-)

We are nominated for .Net magazines ‘Agency of the Year’…get voting:

www.thenetawards.com

The Pod1 designed Jane Norman e-shop has now launched. This is the high street fashion brands first foray into e-commerce and the result is a slick sophisticated transactional website. 

Pod1 was responsible for developing the site architecture and front-end design. The website is also fully integrated with Jane Norman’s buying and merchandising system along with those of fulfilment partner Amethyst.

Jane Norman is one of the UK’s most successful high street fashion chains. With collections aimed primarily at young women aged 16-25, offering affordable, sexy party wear, work wear and day-wear. Founded in 1952 the company now has over 200 stores and concessions worldwide employing over 1,400 people.

Jane Norman markets itself to a very specific audience, and their clothes have a very distinctive look and feel. Clothes are designed to be tight fitting and sexy, and are made to inspire a feeling of confidence and sensuality in the wearer. The emphasis is on the cut and quality of the fabric, with texture being key.

Luxury lingerie brand Myla has announced the appointment of Pod1, to redevelop their E-Commerce site myla.com.

The main objectives of the project are to reflect the brands intimate in-store experience, improve Information Architecture, usability, product information and search functions, optimize the site for different customers and different customer journeys, enhance CRM opportunities and reward customers for their loyalty.

Myla CEO, Daniel Gestetner, comments; “We see E-Commerce being an integral part of the brands continued growth, so we were looking for a first class partner to redevelop our existing site, and completely refresh our online brand presence. Six agencies were invited to pitch for the project, but we were blown away by Pod1’s design credentials, retail expertise and ability to understand the commercials”.

Myla Head of E-Commerce, Joanna Kelly, adds; “This redevelopment gives us the opportunity to put the customer at the heart of the online experience. We want to recreate the exceptional service and in-store drama of our boutiques and treat every customer as an individual with unique needs. We feel Pod1 are the right partners for this project as with our combined customer insights we can create a best-in-class lingerie site”.

Pod1 founder, Fadi Shuman, adds; “We are excited to be working with Myla on this dream project. We have massive confidence in the potential of the brand, so much so that we have negotiated a revenue share proposal that allows us to benefit from a percentage of sales in return for a reduction in our upfront fees.  So we look forward to sharing in their success.” Fadi Shuman added; “We’re looking at implementing similar models with many of our new and existing clients as this is a far more attractive a proposition for them in these uncertain times.”

On an ongoing basis Pod1 will be responsible for the maintenance and continuous development of the site as well as for the site’s digital marketing.

Luxury lingerie brand Myla has announced the appointment of Pod1, to redevelop their E-Commerce site myla.com.

The main objectives of the project are to reflect the brands intimate in-store experience, improve Information Architecture, usability, product information and search functions, optimize the site for different customers and different customer journeys, enhance CRM opportunities and reward customers for their loyalty.

Myla CEO, Daniel Gestetner, comments; “We see E-Commerce being an integral part of the brands continued growth, so we were looking for a first class partner to redevelop our existing site, and completely refresh our online brand presence. Six agencies were invited to pitch for the project, but we were blown away by Pod1’s design credentials, retail expertise and ability to understand the commercials”.

Myla Head of E-Commerce, Joanna Kelly, adds; “This redevelopment gives us the opportunity to put the customer at the heart of the online experience. We want to recreate the exceptional service and in-store drama of our boutiques and treat every customer as an individual with unique needs. We feel Pod1 are the right partners for this project as with our combined customer insights we can create a best-in-class lingerie site”.

Pod1 founder, Fadi Shuman, adds; “We are excited to be working with Myla on this dream project. We have great confidence in the potential of the brand and have reduced our upfront fees in order to benefit from a percentage of sales.  So we look forward to sharing in their success.”
On an ongoing basis Pod 1 will be responsible for the maintenance and continuous development of the site. We will also be responsible for the sites e-mail marketing.

Luxury lingerie brand Myla has announced the appointment of Pod1, to redevelop their E-Commerce site myla.com.

The main objectives of the project are to reflect the brands intimate in-store experience, improve Information Architecture, usability, product information and search functions, optimize the site for different customers and different customer journeys, enhance CRM opportunities and reward customers for their loyalty.

Myla CEO, Daniel Gestetner, comments; “We see E-Commerce being an integral part of the brands continued growth, so we were looking for a first class partner to redevelop our existing site, and completely refresh our online brand presence. Six agencies were invited to pitch for the project, but we were blown away by Pod1’s design credentials, retail expertise and ability to understand the commercials”.

Myla Head of E-Commerce, Joanna Kelly, adds; “This redevelopment gives us the opportunity to put the customer at the heart of the online experience. We want to recreate the exceptional service and in-store drama of our boutiques and treat every customer as an individual with unique needs. We feel Pod1 are the right partners for this project as with our combined customer insights we can create a best-in-class lingerie site”.

Pod1 founder, Fadi Shuman, adds; “We are excited to be working with Myla on this dream project. We have great confidence in the potential of the brand and have reduced our upfront fees in order to benefit from a percentage of sales.  So we look forward to sharing in their success.”
On an ongoing basis Pod 1 will be responsible for the maintenance and continuous development of the site. We will also be responsible for the sites e-mail marketing.

Pod1 have been appointed to design and deliver a CMS driven website for www.romofabrics.com which designs and markets exclusive furnishing fabrics that are sold worldwide through an extensive distribution network of agents, designers and independent retailers, with corporate showrooms in London, Munich and New York.

The brief stipulated that the website needs to appeal to the end user or retail customer as well as the wholesale clients. So giving the consumer a website that will display the products in greater detail and present them in a manner that makes them attractive and desirable. In turn, it needs to be able to point these customers, who have taken an interest in the products, to the retail outlets and interior design shops where they can purchase the fabrics to be made into curtains or upholstery.

Based in Nottinghamshire, ROMO was founded in 1902 by Robert Mould, who gave his name to the company. Today ROMO remains an independent family-run business and is jointly owned by the founder’s great grandsons, Jonathan and Robert, who are passionately committed to its continuing success and development.