Abstract
IGA is the world’s largest voluntary supermarket network worldwide. With more than $21 billion in retail sales, IGA is supported by 36 distribution companies and more than 55 major manufactures, vendors and suppliers. During the re-branding of the company’s private brand label, IGA coordinated the creation of a new Web strategy that would offer their consumers, members and business partners a custom, personalized experience.
Challenge
With such a diverse audience encompassing both consumers and business partners, IGA wanted a Web strategy where they could exclusively cater to the needs of their different audiences. Functional requirements included the ability for content authors to easily update the home page as well as a document management system for newsletters and articles to be stored and maintained. IGA also wanted to tie in social networking and Web 2.0 functionality without having to implement multiple solutions. Once completed, the Web site needed to be consistent with the overall branding of the IGA private brand label.
Solution
IGA partnered with WebSolutions Technology, an Ektron Elite partner, to build the new IGA Web site on the Ektron CMS400.NET Platform. WebSolutions Technology and IGA’s Web team led by Nick Liakopulos, Vice President of IT at IGA, laid out the new Web site in two phases. Phase I focused on the consumer and business home pages, offering information to IGA consumers, members and business partners as well as dedicating site content to current and prospective IGA Alliance members. Phase II, currently in development, is the IGA Alliance site, a members-only portal providing members the opportunity to collaborate and exchange information among each other utilizing advanced Web 2.0 technologies.
WebSolutions Technology implemented CMS400.NET so that both the consumer and business home page’s on the IGA Web site would have full content and document management functionality and stay consistent with the IGA brand. WebSolutions Technology leveraged Ektron’s Geo-mapping technology as the foundation for a new Store Locator and developed a custom upload process to provide result filtering capabilities via store information (address, phone, Web site, etc.) and attributes (ATM, Grocery, Pharmacy, etc.).
To ensure a positive experience for site visitors, IGA implemented out-of-the box Ektron feedback forms and surveys to give visitors a voice and a way to easily communicate their feedback to IGA. The Web site navigation was also re-architected and Ektron search was utilized, making site content easy to find and creating an enjoyable browsing experience.
Result
The IGA Web site now has two distinct home pages, one dedicated to their consumers and the other one to current members and prospect business partners interested in learning about IGA. Both sites have a uniform look and feel that reflects the IGA private brand label and incorporates dynamically driven content, flash animations and images that can easily be updated by IGA’s team of content authors.
The new navigation and search functionality paired with Ektron’s document management technology allows Liakopulos and his Web team to manage and archive their newsletters and articles. The browsing experience is kept consistent across both the business and consumer site, yet is uniquely tailored to the wants of each audience.
Web site traffic has increased since the role out of the new IGA site on both the business and consumer site. Site visitors are enjoying the new Store Locator, driven by Ektron’s geo-mapping technology which makes it easier for customers to use and displays a wealth of information about each individual IGA store. Since the new Web site has gone live, Liakopulos has also witnessed a large increase in visitors taking advantage of the surveys and forms to communicate with IGA.
Learn more about IGA, Inc.
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Overview
Challenges
Design a new site that reflects the IGA private label brand Deliver relevant content to IGA’s multiple audiences Gather consumer feedback and improve site visitors’ experience
Results
Highly personalized Web site resulting in an a 75% increase in traffic on IGA Business site Improved site navigation and new dynamically driven Store Locator Content authors can manage both Web sites through one template, saving time and reducing costs
“We have a very diverse audience and we were able to develop highly personalized site visitor experiences with the CMS400.NET platform.”
- Nick Liakopulos, Vice President of IT, IGA Inc.
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