Essence and e-inbusiness deliver new Ryman website

Ryman has redeveloped its website www.ryman.co.uk following a major investment in new eCommerce infrastructure.

The web design was undertaken by digital agency Essence with all technical development of the eCommerce platform  and back office integration being undertaken by e-inbusiness.

The redesign is the culmination of a major rethink of the user interface for the site combining the multi-channel needs of the business with the commercial requirements of the eCommerce division.  As a result, the homepage is a balance of an enhanced primary promotional area incorporating both B2C and B2B promotions, local store visibility, product catalogue navigation, further online promotion and existing customer services.  As well as a rethink of the product categorisation, the site introduces new merchandising zones which can facilitate both seasonal and promotional themed activity that complements the core product hierarchy.  In addition, primary navigation was extended beyond just 'products' to 'services' to raise awareness of the growing suite of business and consumer services offered by Ryman, such as in-store printing and binding.  Finally, the design was explicitly crafted to accommodate potential future integration with further multi-channel capabilities.

The site is the first phase of a multi-phase project built using e-inbusiness' enhanced eibCommerce solution based on EPiServer [CMS] and Microsoft Commerce Server (eCommerce), the solution also uses Omniture Merchandising to manage advanced product selection/search and promotions .  The website integrates with Ryman's ERP systems, their own call centre and a number of third party providers including Secure Trading (payment provider).  This new site also provides Ryman with extensive content management functionality throughout the entire site, not just within specific zones, i.e. all text and all labels.  The website also enables sophisticated pricing control with promotional pricing displayed prior to check-out, includes bulk purchase discounts and an 'include' or 'exclude' VAT display option for all prices.   

Andy Harding, director of account sales and e-commerce at Ryman, commented "The site is undoubtedly a massive improvement on our previous web presence and delivers a step change in both user experience and in technical flexibility and resilience.  We are already seeing significant performance improvements, particularly in overall website conversion, in the first few days post go-live"

Nigel Welch, e-inbusiness chief executive officer said "The technical challenges of this project were substantive - in particular the need to integrate existing retail and stock systems with a new ecommerce platform and a customised B2B account management environment. The final solution will provide Ryman with one of the most sophisticated multi-channel solutions in the market and a truly flexible and scalable platform for long term growth.  We are very proud of this project and looking forward to continuing to work with them as the business evolves"

Matt Isaacs, founding partner of Essence, commented "The Ryman redesign was a classic multi-channel retailer challenge with the added complexity of very different brand objectives in different regions of the UK and the need to serve both B2C and B2B customers.  We are delighted that the end product has delivered to Ryman's requirements and is already showing performance benefits."

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