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Case Study Two: Garden and Nursery Store
We were not surprised when Elsie's Garden & Nursery* (see footnote) expressed the need to set up a website featuring an e-commerce storefront. The EGN staff was a celebrated crew, serving the general public not only with their brick and mortar store in the Chicago suburbs, but for their contributions in consulting three nearby conservatories in the research of rare and native Illinois prairie plants. Armed with nothing more than an e-mail address, the EGN staff declared, "We need a website. People who've grown up with us but since have moved away have expressed interest in buying our plants online."
"We don't know a lick of programming. We're amazed we know how to answer e-mail, and, honestly, we have trouble with even that," they were first to admit. "We're willing to place a bit more into setting up this website, but our budget for hiring a part-time developer is, like, non-existent. So we need something that we can easily update ourselves."
To which we responded, "No problem."
This took a bit more than simple web development. We shadowed the EGN staff for about a week, attempting to understand what would be important to them as a company, what processes were essential for the online store, what applications needed to be built for their administrative needs. Less than ten weeks later, we deployed a site that featured an engaging interface and a full-scale administrative area, allowing the garden and nursery staff to make necessary updates and changes as they pleased without the aid of a web designer, having been designed with XML/XHTML/CSS-positioning for maximum speed at little weight. The site was launched simultaneously with the much-anticipated annual opening of their summer garden center.
The following are three particular areas of the new site we would like to highlight for you, stemming from the firm's e-commerce area. All three are customized solutions developed specifically for their needs.
BUYING FROM THE ONLINE CATALOG
It is no wonder why Elsie's Garden & Nursery is so popular: regular customers are greeted by name, new customers are introduced to Elsie (if available) and staff, and everyone gets a personalized recommendation. We sought to somehow capture the essence of their contagious enthusiasm for gardening and landscaping.
The front-end of the catalog features small details which sets their storefront emerging from the rest of the online garden catalogs available. EGN is well-known for working on community-focused projects, so we allocated space along the left-hand side of the site for "Garden Notes," a small article area featuring photographs. Also exclusive to the EGN website is the Garden Care area, sections of helpful gardening tips which correspond with each major product, and unique descriptions written by the EGN staff themselves for that intimate feel.
EDITING THE ONLINE CATALOG
All information on the site requires but the click of the mouse to change. The back-end administrative area was designed with an interface that would clearly delineate "what the customer sees" so that the EGN staff would be able to view their changes in real-time without having to logout of the area or open a new browser window.
There are also two tiers of administrative users: moderators and superusers. Both types of administrative users have access to the same administrative functions, with the exception of four: edit product number, edit product image, edit product code (used for "coupon codes" towards discounts at the checkout area of the e-commerce application), and delete product altogether. As defined by the EGN staff, these four functions are restricted to be used by superusers only.
ADDING A NEW PRODUCT
Critical to the catalog management application is the ability to add a new product, as the EGN staff pledges to bring in a dozen new types of plants to its store every month. Rather than make the "adding a new product" area separate from the editing of the catalog, we integrated the two together onto one page as to avoid disorienting the user from what area of the catalog he or she was currently on.
The back-end administrative area is established so that the administrator simply clicks through the site like a visitor, making changes while moving along. The EGN staff was thrilled with the simplicity and intuitiveness of the administrative area, being able to easily move around on both ends of the site with very little training and absolutely no tech background.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS!"
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" exclaimed an Elsie's staff member during training on how to manage the online catalog. In the summer to follow, our client representative forwarded us positive feedback from members of the gardening company. "We all fight over maintaining the catalog. It's much easier to do everything online." "Our online sales increase significantly every week. We can barely keep up!" "Elsie keeps talking about retiring as a dot-com zillionaire." "The cool thing is, our clients know it's us from the moment they log onto the site." and, our personal favorite "Thank you so much! We've spelled out 'Sevey' with white lilies in our center!"
CASE STUDY FOOTNOTE (*)
* By request of our clients, the names of the companies used in our case studies have been changed. However, all other elements, including interface and functionlities, remain the same and are portrayed accurately. For a list of references or access to working demonstrations, please contact us.
WHAT ARE YOUR INTERNET GOALS?
What brings you here? What are your internet goals? Please feel free to review the case study and do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to inquire further. We would appreciate the opportunity to assist you in establishing the strong online presence you deserve. We embody your dreams, share in your efforts, and work earnestly towards your success.
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