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Office Shoes
Foresite has worked with Office since 1998 when we developed their first prototype website. After a great deal of success with the prototype it was decided to re-develop the site adding a whole host of new features as well as integrating it with Office's order processing and stock control systems.
The Challenge
The project's main requirement was that the site was easy to use and that the structure and design made it easy for users to find and purchase items. An additional requirement was that the site seamlessly integrated with Office's in-house stock control system (in order that the site contained live stock levels) as well as securely passing orders and customer details through to Office's off-line mail order processing system.
The Solution
As part of the development process we worked closely with Office and their branding company to ensure that the site correctly reflected Office's new branding.
During a number of workshops, the design, functionality and architecture of the new site was discussed and agreed. Meetings were also held with the developers of Office's mail order and stock control systems in order to develop interfaces to enable the website to communicate with both.
It was know that traffic to the website was at quite a high level so it was decided that the site would be developed using mod_perl to provide maximum speed. The site was then hosted on a dedicated Linux web server running Apache and using a MySQL database.
In order to ensure the site contains accurate stock levels, Office's off-line stock control system uploads a new stock file to the website once every night. This stock file is then imported into the system.
When a user places and order on the website, the order file is encrypted using a very strong algorithm and transferred securely to a server that is located internally at Office. These files are then automatically de-encrypted and pulled into Office's off-line mail order processing system, where the orders are process in the same way as a standard telephone order.
The Result
The resulting website has been live for over 1 year and has been a tremendous success. Orders taken via the website have grown every month. Now that the system integrates seamlessly with Office's stock control and order processing systems, when an order is placed on the website, it is passed through to the order processing system which in turn updates the stock control system. This is then translated back to the website. This integration has also resulted in the cost of processing an order via the website has dramatically decreased.
Recently Foresite has embarked on a programme of website enhancements and on-line marketing. The site now utilises Urchin; world leading web analytics software. Website administrators at Office are now able to analyse exactly how people use their website to very fine detail. The software even gives Office the ability to determine the exact return on investment of any marketing campaign whether off-line or on-line.
