The desire for goods to be available via web based ecommerce sites continues to grow with online retail sales expected to increase by 14.2% over 2012/13 in comparison with 2.8% on the high street*. With this in mind more and more of our clients are diverting funds away from high street retail operations to online ecommerce activity. 

Through our experience we understand ecommerce and how to make an online store work. Customer experience is paramount for retailers wanting to increase sales with 78% of consumers stating they wouldn’t continue to use a poorly designed site*. Our user centred approach to ecommerce website design ensures that the site works well for your users leading to a great experience and delivery against your objectives.

As a client you are faced with a number of choices in regards to the size, flexibility and cost of the ecommerce platform that will best suit your business. It is important to be honest about the volume of business you are expecting to do otherwise you could have a large system which is never properly utilised and won’t achieve the results you require. You also have to consider if your business provides a unique experience to customers, if so then your ecommerce site should do as well and therefore a fully customisable platform is required.

The 3 types of ecommerce systems can be broken down into the following;

Packaged Applications; An existing platform which is either a free open source code or licensed product that can be developed by an agency or in house development team. Infrastructure development is done by the developer who provides the background tools that allow the designers to create a bespoke environment without the need for ground up development. Scalability is delivered through further development and is decided by the client through the acquisition of hardware or licensed back off system.

Examples include Magento, Microsoft Commerce, Drupal Commerce, Epi Server etc.

Full-Service Agency; A unique platform to the agency that can be developed and evolved to the specific needs of the client where there are very individual requirements due to infrastructure of the control systems with in the business etc. Complete control over the code and development direction is offered to the client however transfer from one agency to another is more difficult as the IP is usually controlled by the agency.

Examples include our own Gibe Commerce and systems such as Venda etc.

On-demand ecommerce; “Off the shelf” or “out of the box” platform that is built on templates providing a cheap but similar experience to other users without the ability to present a unique experience to the user. Fee based so as the business up-scales, so does the cost with additional costs for each new element or release. Platforms are improving however will always be behind bespoke developers and designers.

Our technical strength empowers great design and supports optimal functionality delivering an engaging experience for users. Your customers will thank you for this by spending more and recommending you to their network. We will also help you abide by the E commerce guidelines as directed by the Government in order to protect consumers and our clients from unwanted activity or prosecution.

We have developed and continue to support a number of ecommerce sites based on the packaged application and full service offerings for various clients.

The sites we have developed include:

• Quba & Co – a premium clothes manufacturer and retailer
• Pashley– an iconic British cycle manufacturer and retailer
• Tap Warehouse – an online tap retailer  
• Island Bathrooms – an online bathroom retailer  
• Armit wines – a fine wine merchant
• Floris London – a fine fragrance manufacturer and retailer
• Chatham Marine – a premium footwear manufacturer and retailer
• Rainbow Club – a wedding shoe manufacturer and retailer

We have experience working with both off-the-shelf and bespoke ecommerce platforms such as Magento Commerce, Microsoft Commerce Server, Ubercart and have developed our own ecommerce platform, Gibe Commerce which we’ve implemented for clients with smaller product ranges.

*UK E-Commerce Statistics – Econsultancy