Unfortunately, more often than not, offline businesses think of having a website as a bit of an ‘extra’ that they don’t really need, but will get round to one day when they’re bothered doing it. The majority of businesses – when they do get their website sorted – put a half arsed effort into it, just displaying their contact information, location, and some blurb they’ve not revised since 1991. Thus, it’s refreshing when businesses do make the effort and treat their website not just as a necessity, but as a powerful marketing tool which they can use to engage current and potential customers, to help make the business better for all. An excellent example is Organicsupermarket.ie, courtesy Ray at Intrigue and Ken Stanley.
From the get-go, everything about this site is friendly. The cartoon style animation on the homepage is pretty hilarious really, and does a great job of getting past the usually difficult task of introducing each and every member of staff to potential and current customers. I love the way the female member of staff hides behind the till, avoiding work, and leaves the main man to run around and do all the rough and tumble jobs!
There ain’t nothin like a big old ‘Thank you’ now and again to ensure your customers are smiley happy people and come back again – and Organicsupermarket.ie does this in style on the homepage.
Right below the ‘Thank you’ is an excellent feature – ‘Request a product’. Not only is this feature handy to have, it clearly works. As of today 174 products had been requested, with 142 of them sourced to date. Not bad at all. Clearly they’re listenting to their customers!
Site navigation is simple, and a ‘Go Organic’ link tells you all you need to know about switching to organic produce and why you should make the move. A ‘Products’ link gives you an idea of what the shop stocks – to me it looks like everything the normal consumer would ever need, and then some.
Every company needs a blog, but few know how to use them effectively. The Organic Supermarket team have a great blog section with organic recipes, store updates, and heaps of other stuff to help keep their customers informed.
Great work guys, a great example of a small business putting the big old interweb to good use!
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