To kick off the project, DEPT® ran a series of discovery workshops at OMRON’s U.S. headquarters in Chicago. The purpose was to get a better understanding of the current user experience and to identify any particular pain points.

The workshops explored OMRON’s business model to help us understand the overall objectives and the ideal ways to measure success. We also discussed the current lead generation processes, pinpointed areas where marketing automation could add efficiency, and decided which of the current components and templates we would prioritise for the new site.

During the discovery phase, we unearthed some common issues that were negatively impacting the customer experience. Hotjar analysis also indicated that the information architecture of the site was impeding users from finding the information they were looking for.

The brand was already strong, so there was no need to reinvent it, but we identified the need to increase brand recognition. DEPT®’s aim was to make the brand more visible and strengthen its identity with the introduction of animations, rich media and ambient videos.

One of the main issues we discovered during our initial analysis of the site was the management of discontinued products on the site. If a user searched for a discontinued product, the results would come up empty. The results page would then direct the searcher to an area that was only visible to logged-in users. In order to acquire a login, the user would need to request an account, but this would only be approved if the user was listed as an official distributor of the product. This was not an ideal customer experience, and it was preventing potential revenue-generating opportunities.

During the design phase, it was decided to keep discontinued products live. This would mean that these products would still show up on the results page when searched for, and there would be no requirement for the searcher to log in. The discontinued product page informs the user that the product is no longer available and suggests suitable alternative products.

Liberty Global’s e-commerce platform handles and processes online orders from multiple product catalogues on different websites using AEM. The core objective of the platform is to deliver rich and personalised content within an intuitive ordering process. From the user’s perspective, placing an order is simple, but behind the scenes, developers have built a complex set of rules to ensure that unique product codes are stored accurately. Together with Liberty Global, DEPT® choose Adobe Experience Manager as the best tool to deliver personalised content to the company’s customers.

AEM is a content management system from Adobe Experience Cloud. As an AEM Specialised Bronze partner, DEPT® has years of in-depth experience with all of Adobe’s products including AEM. Given our tight partnership and expertise, it made sense to use AEM for Liberty Global.

AEM is known as a reliable and comprehensive CMS. It has a very user-friendly user interface, powerful capabilities to manage multiple country sites and languages while maintaining an overview at all times. A solution for large, international companies like Liberty Global. 

Adobe’s complete Experience Cloud consists of multiple Best of Breed marketing products, which can be used independently or integrated with AEM. Adobe Analytics is a fully-fledged alternative to Google Analytics 360 and offers enterprises real-time insights into customer data, which can be acted upon directly in combination with AEM. With Adobe Target, one’s website can transform into a marketing machine, through AI-powered personalisation and powerful A/B and Multivariate Testing across every channel.

In the case of Liberty Global, the advantages of AEM such as scalability, extensive cloud services, ease of use and the possibility for personalised content are well deployed in the improvements of the platform.

We helped Liberty Global take some big steps in the digital world and the use of AEM proved to be the right choice from a technical point of view. Their sales were boosted by successfully implementing a complex, commercial basis. It empowered the company to offer its customers personalised offers, enabling them to stay ahead of the competition.

JM’s focus has always been to work closely with its customers and develop tailored solutions for them. As traffic to its website organically increased over the years, JM realised a need to futurise its digital presence. DEPT® was chosen by JM to assist with digital transformation, starting with a rebuild of the website. DEPT® was tasked with the design and build of a new, visually engaging site, centralised onto a new content management system, Sitecore.

The build for the website was exclusively implemented by DEPT® including UX design, front and back end development, quality assurance, hosting setup and digital operations support.

With operations in over 30 markets and many websites offering multiple products and services, JM’s digital estate was decentralised and disparate. With a business focus on adopting a digital-first approach, a centralised content management system for all of their products, services, markets and languages was needed.

The main goal of this stage of the digital roadmap was to merge all websites onto one global platform with a customer-centric approach, while reinforcing the brand message throughout the website.

The Sitecore Experience Platform has the ability to host multiple websites and centralise multi-language brand sites onto a single platform, so was an ideal technology fit for JM’s needs.

DEPT® conducted a Sitecore audit to provide expert insight on the functionality available, and how best to utilise the features. With Sitecore, JM is able to create powerful personalisation options, gather insightful customer intelligence and analytics, save time with its easy to use in-page content editor, and maximise the conversion improvements from A/B testing.

As Gold partners, DEPT®’s large team of developers have a wealth of experience to help JM maximise the benefits of the Sitecore Experience Platform.

During DEPT®’s initial analysis of the sites, it became clear that it was very difficult for JM to identify and differentiate the user groups. As such, all users are being treated the same and JM was unable to serve relevant content based on their intent.

With that in mind, the site has been built with future personalisation in mind. During future phases of the digital roadmap, the plan is to create multiple versions of templates based on key personas. This will enable JM to serve alternated versions of the site to returning visitors who match specific persona behaviour. For example, a user who has visited the careers page will be shown the latest job vacancies on their return to the site. Personalisation will need to be scalable and extensible, so that JM can learn more about the visitor’s profile and needs during each visit to help further personalise the messaging.

DEPT®’s DOS (Digital Operations Support) team works with Johnson Matthey on a daily basis to ensure that its site is consistently monitored, maintained and improved.  The DOS team ensures that the site is always operational, and undertake small projects and functional improvements that require a quick turnaround. For example, when the DOS team took over the maintenance of the site, their main focus was on improving SEO. They worked tirelessly on over 10,000 redirects from 7 different websites in the space of just three months.

The DOS team enables quick results. For any improvements or updates, deployment to the live environment takes no more than two hours. By partnering with DEPT® in this way, JM is able to save time, money and resource on lengthy development cycles.

The matthey.com website rebuild was a huge success. The centralised CMS has provided JM with more control of its digital presence, and the new site has increased brand exposure and awareness of it products and services.

JM treated digital delivery as a requirement for the business and understood that its people and processes were key throughout the transformation. Most of all, it recognised the need for digital growth. DEPT® continues to support and maintain a strong connection with Johnson Matthey in a seamless, well-organised and effortless relationship.

Etos has been awarded the title of ‘best drugstore in the Netherlands’ seven times. The chain will now be supplementing its offline success with an online platform. Etos offers a personal shopping experience that combines advice, inspiration and smart savings. As their digital e-commerce partner, DEPT® was responsible for the platform’s development, design and concept. All within a period of six months.

The webshop is a platform where anyone can go for anything related to beauty, personal (baby) care and health, at any time of day. The concept — from design to platform — focuses on an outstanding user experience. That’s why, as Etos.nl customer, you’ll experience the same level of personal advice, (brand) inspiration and ease of use as in the physical stores. Etos employees help customers discover new trends and products, while the A-brands provide inspiration and are easy to find through their own landing pages. The new Etos.nl is proof that attractive design, a fantastic user experience, conversion and SEO go hand in hand.

The enormous range of products is made available through four main categories: beauty, personal care, health and baby. While scrolling through the products, the customer is surprised by inspiring content, handy tips and interesting products, fully tailored to his or her requirements. The search is fast and simple because all the important steps in the customer journey have been extensively tested and optimised.

To optimally load the Etos brand, recognisable typographic stylistic elements have been designed and developed in a playful manner. The headings, characteristic of the Etos brand, jump out of the grid when Etos wants to inspire users, while informative components take on a sleeker typographic style. This provides a good balance between the fun that’s associated with the Etos brand and the user-friendliness of the online shopping experience. Moreover, in collaboration with Etos, DEPT® established a content strategy that produced a number of copywriting and photography guidelines. This includes the humour incorporated in the tone-of-voice, the lovely photography and the subtle animations that return throughout the customer journey. All elements that make the online shopping experience even more fun!

As the Etos webshop had to be launched quickly, Salesforce Commerce Cloud was the logical choice. The SaaS platform is known for its speed, scalability, many merchandising options and out-of-the-box features that allow an initial version to be launched very quickly. What’s more, the platform also offers a range of Artificial Intelligence options, which are quite helpful when it comes to smart recommendations and searches.

However, there were more aspects that we had to keep in mind: as a member of Ahold, there are stringent requirements with regard to reconciliation, security, performance and accessibility. These requirements affect the entire development process, from design, specifications, building, and testing to handover. The many integrations with respect to loyalty, product catalogue, financial reports, user provisioning, store information, inventory and price details made this a challenging project with a large number of involved parties. Since Etos had never had a webshop before, many of these processes had to be designed and worked out from scratch.

Fragrance Direct wanted to maximise its international potential. It already had sites for the UK, Europe and the US, but they weren’t localised. Launching transcreated, country-specific websites was part of the beauty merchandiser’s digital strategy to better engage its clientele. 

DEPT® optimised its existing Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform to create a multi-tenant cloud solution with a centrally maintained, scalable, and reliable infrastructure with a single code base. Designed for growth, it makes the process of rolling out and maintaining websites easy and efficient. DEPT® created a separate website for Sweden, Denmark, and France; each with territory-specific content, campaigns and payment options. In collaboration with Lingo24 translation integration, the French website was translated into its native language.

Fragrance Direct carries a wide range of beauty products to fulfil its diverse consumer needs of replenishing staples, experimenting with new labels, and gift-giving luxuries. We wanted to make shopping for products easier and more enjoyable for all types of shoppers. Personalisation was the answer to streamline the shopping experience while, at the same, ensuring it’s fun to explore and interact with.

A straightforward sitemap, image-led product listings and content hubs provided a great foundation to expand the capabilities within Salesforce Commerce Cloud through customised features. These include a subscription service enabling consumers to auto-replenish their favourite products and a Chatbot ready to answer queries throughout the customer journey.

The Fragrance Finder tool makes it super-easy to select the perfect signature scent, while gift wrap allows customers to virtually send presents from Fragrance Direct and improves the unboxing experience. Custom engraving adds an extra special touch when added to a bottle of perfume or aftershave. DEPT® worked with Fragrance Direct to implement and localise these services in each territory, ensuring orders are delivered to its trade partners and quality service is consistently delivered.

Fragrance Direct acknowledged payment methods were changing and the impact it was having on the younger demographics. With the immense buying power of millennials and gen z, these consumers were deemed prime target audiences. In an effort to adapt to new consumer expectations, Fragrance Direct partnered with DEPT® to implement a variety of payment methods appealing to all types of buyers, including:

Klarna to shop now and pay later

Klarna does not charge interest or fees for its standard payment options and has proven to be popular for online shoppers, giving consumers the option to try before they buy. We added its ‘Pay Later in 30 Days’ feature on Fragrance Direct and, following positive results, it strategically launched Klarna’s ‘Pay Later in 3 Instalments’ option ahead of the Christmas peak. 

ApplePay for the rise in mobile commerce

Consumers are increasingly choosing their devices to not only browse products on-the-go but also to make purchases. ApplePay adds a layer of convenience and security. With consumers increasingly storing their card details in their mobile wallet, they are used to make purchases through the device (even if it’s just via iTunes or the App Store). They don’t need to pull out any cards or enter in their delivery details to make the purchase but simply scan their face, fingerprint or enter the passcode, making checkout an easy, seamless experience.

Optimising Fragrance Direct with its existing Salesforce Comment Cloud platform has allowed the retailer to modernise its approach to selling online, reaching new customers and building loyalty. Without the need to re-platform, the business was able to save significant costs and unleash new possibilities within the robust solution. With third-party integrations, Fragrance Direct introduced new ways for its customers to purchase products. Within three months of implementing Klarna’s ‘Pay Later in 30 Days’ feature, Fragrance Direct recorded a 4.5% increase in its conversion rate and a 7.2% increase in average order value compared to three months prior without Klarna. 

Credibility and retailer reputation plays a big role in making online purchases, especially when it comes to high-end brands and luxury items. In the website design, we used official brand photos in high-resolution throughout. We also pulled in Google Customer Reviews which demonstrates a 95% positive feedback based on 65,850 previous purchases. Likewise, using Bazaarvoice, individual products have ratings and comments, instilling added confidence in the authenticity of the website.

DEPT®’s partnership with Fragrance Direct is ongoing. We provide website maintenance to ensure the site performs at its best and new product lines are launched. We’re underpinning the company’s growth, rolling out new territory websites, as well as seasonal and marketing campaigns to engage target audience personas based on buying behaviour and geographic trends. As commerce continues to evolve, Fragrance Direct will maintain its leading reputation through adapting to innovative uses of technology.