CASE STUDY - E.COMMERCE WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING

Background
Smart Turnout started with a jumper knitted in the colours of the Scots Guards for a race at Sandown in 1992 as Philip Turner was nearing the end of a ten year career in the British Army. 15 years later his idea has grown into a sizable business selling finely crafted clothing and accessories made using the colours and crests of regiments, schools, clubs, universities and colleges.

The business grew firstly by launching a mail order catalogue and then an e-commerce website using actinic software.

The challenge
Over time Smart Turnout had become increasingly dissatisfied with their old website both in terms of the “clunky” brand image and product presentation but also the poor programming and service they were receiving from their old suppliers.

Cogent were selected to redesign and reprogram the site because we were able to demonstrate a clear understanding of how to develop the brand in the desired direction and our design and technical ability to launch an enlarged, reprogrammed and fully tested site in time for a new catalogue launch and still stay within budget.

Our approach
As with all projects we started by working with our client to form a detailed marketing brief and naturally as this was an E-Commerce site we agreed a site plan and functional/technical specification.

Next we created mood boards to help us to accurately establish the target customer and how Smart Turnout maps onto their lifestyle. We then compared this to the competition. It was instructive to define what Smart Turnout is and is not. E.g. it is English country side – it is not celebrity. Research was also carried out on how best to present the product. This was especially challenging because most products appear twice in two different groupings a) by category e.g. ties and again b) by institution e.g. Coldstream Guards. This meant that all products had to be shown in the same grid area. Cogent then devised an additional product detail level giving Smart Turnout the ability to show there products at an optimum size and quality

In tandem with brand development and design Cogent programmers created page templates in html and Actinic. Cogent is one of the few companies with the ability to create a completely bespoke look and feel in Actinic (our sites do not look like they have come from templates)

Cogent incorporated the following features:

• Separate UK and US sites with differing product emphasis
• Limited period discount codes and price reductions for multiple purchases
• Google Analytics implementation and analysis including the e-commerce module
• Improved SEO

The result
The new site was launched on time and on budget and immediately made a positive impression with existing customers. In the first three months, during the run up to Christmas 2007, the site increased orders by 100% over the same period the previous year. Site statistics have been consistently impressive with customers spending longer on the site, looking at more pages and making more frequent return visits.

The future
The success of the site and Cogent’s vision for the brand has prompted Smart Turnout to commission a redesign of the Autumn Winter 2008 Product Catalogue in two versions, for wholesale and retail customers. The catalogues will feature greatly enhanced photography, project managed and art directed by Cogent, and an increase in pages to allow greater space for products and the introduction of new ranges.

Cogent has also redesigned the direct mail material giving more space to profitable lines and increased exposure to the website.

Cogent continues to provide day to day technical support and maintenance on the websites and advertising.