Cal Chamber Store
E-commerce solutions. Boosting productivity and sales through better design and integration.
Challenge
To reach its widespread customer base, the Chamber relies heavily on its e-commerce site (www.calchamberstore.com), which serves as an electronic storefront for more than 50 products and training events, . The site primarily offers a variety of books, videos, manuals, and other informational resources to help businesses remain compliant with California Labor Law. With a robust ecommerce engine and good functionality, the online store processes several million dollars in transactions annually.
The site had two main challenges: A poor user experience, and manual processing of orders. Disorganized and cluttered pages made it difficult for customers to locate products, and the checkout process was cumbersome. Furthermore, the overall design was dated and not consistent with the Chamber's overall brand positioning.
The existing e-commerce functionality also offered no integration with Chamber’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This caused inventory discrepancies, with listed products frequently out of stock, as well as neccessitating duplicate member databases, causing inconsistent profiling and discounting.
In addition, order processing was a manual, time-consuming function. Staff had to print out online orders and manually re-key data into the Chamber’s order Navision ERP system. Not only was this a time-consuming and error-prone activity, it also caused order delays and late deliveries during heavy purchase periods.
Solution
After thoroughly assessing the Chamber’s site requirements and desired outcomes, Blue River implemented a complete solution consisting of strategic, technical, and design services.
We first reorganized the site into a more user-friendly structure, through which customers can now view products according to their issues, practices, and requirements. More detailed product pages include benefits, ideal usage, and related product recommendations.
On the technical side, Blue River partned with MethodFactory (www.methodfactory.com) to migrate the online store from its previous ecommerce platform to a full Microsoft server stack (Microsoft Commerce Server 2002, Microsoft Content Managment Server 2002, Microsoft SQL Server 2000). Blue River then integrated the store with the Chamber’s Navision system, which not only streamlines the entire order processing function, but also provides enhanced customer service options such as order tracking, account management, recurring orders, and more.
Results
Today, the Chamber is enjoying the benefits of vastly improved e-commerce site. The new site offers an extremely user-friendly layout with a brand-consistent design. Equally important, complete system integration is saving the Chamber both time and money while increasing the accuracy of site content and accelerating the order process—ultimately driving greater customer satisfaction.
The Chamber’s online store has now become an even stronger revenue stream. At the same time, the Chamber has significantly reduced the costs associated with managing the site and built a strong foundation for future expansion.
Project Details
Blue River Services: Strategy, Design, Project Management, Web Site Development, Infrastructure (Server Purchasing, Setup, and Configuration), Database Development, Integration Programming (Provided by MethodFactory), Usability Testing
Technology: Microsoft Commerce Server 2002, Microsoft Content Managment Server 2002, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Navision Integration (Via XML-Based Messaging).