Building successful businesses online.
Wild Pacific Salmon
A Fresh Take on Online Selling of Perishable Goods
Scoop:
Looking for the finest-quality seafood delivered right to your front door? Try WildPacificSalmon.com. A family-owned and family-run business, WildPacificSalmon.com is the brainchild of seasoned Alaskan fishermen who are truly passionate about providing fresh fish directly to consumers for a fraction of the cost of supermarkets or gourmet stores. In addition to saving money, customers who order directly from WildPacificSalmon.com also enjoy a much fresher product. After all, seafood is frequently sitting up to 14 days in even the most premium outlets. Using the FAS process (Frozen At Sea), WildPacificSalmon.com, on the other hand, provides fish of the highest quality, color, texture, and flavor offering that unique “just out of the ocean” taste gourmet customers love. WildPacificSalmon.com ships to households and restaurants all over the US, offering a large selection of fresh seafood, valuable handling tips, recipes, and a host of special gift options.
Say Carl and Barbara founders of Wild PacificSalmon.com:
When we started the business, back in 1992, we were excited about the possibility of selling fish, fresh off the boat, to the end consumer. With our pioneering ecommerce seafood business, we were able to offer restaurants and households all over the US a much fresher and better-priced product than our brick and mortar competition. Our first website served its purpose and established us as a trusted, premier online seafood supplier. But recently we decided to take our business to the next level, providing a perfect, state-of-the-art shopping platform for fresh fish lovers. We looked for a partner that could help us turn this vision into reality, one that would have the right industry-experience, a proven track record of success, and convincing references. ECommerce Partners stood out among all contestants, and we decided to give them a shot. We’re glad we did. Both the development process and the final result have exceeded our expectations. Carl and Barbara founders of Wild Pacific Salmon
Story:
Coming from families of seasoned Alaskan fisherman, Barbara and Carl were passionate about their fresh seafood, and frustrated about the seemingly unavoidable delays when selling it through traditional channels. With the introduction of the Internet, they decided to sell online. They figured that by cutting out the middlemen, they would be able to create a win-win scenario for their customers and their company. The concept was sound, but the website eventually fell short. Selling perishables online indeed poses a number of extra challenges: First, the site must be very easy to use, to compete with the intuitive shopping experience at supermarkets. Second, it must prove to new customers that the product they are about to buy is appealing and fresh. In other words, the site needs to inspire trust in the honesty and integrity of the online retailer. With its complex navigation, cumbersome check-out process, outdated design, and poor graphics the old site no longer managed to adequately meet all these challenges. That is when ECommerce Partners entered the picture.
Solution:
ECommerce Partners and WildPacificSalmon.com began by defining the following five project goals: improve the user experience, boost customer communications, enhance site handling, fine-tune customer information, increase conversion, and ultimately grow online sales. With these goals in mind, ECommerce Partners then set out to build the new WildPacificSalmon.com. To ensure the site’s systematic progress and lasting success, the agency started, as it usually does, with its proven ERS (Ecommerce Requirement Specifications) and SDC (SEO Development Component) methodologies, covering research & strategy, planning, and information architecture, as well as current and foreseeable search engine requirements.
Then ECommerce Partners proceeded with the design and development of the site paying special attention to the navigation. It now flexibly caters to the likes and needs of all different customers quickly guiding them to their destination and through the entire shopping process. The user experience is further enhanced by the introduction of a simple, flat-rate shipping policy, and a quick, intuitive check-out process. To ensure customers feel confident about the freshness of the perishables, ECommerce Partners included essential product information in dedicated info boxes that feature prominently on all site pages. Clearly-stated shipping information is designed to further reassure customers and signal a quick and reliable order delivery. To cement trust in the online retailer, Ecommerce Partners let the owners speak for themselves featuring them in an online video on the site where they relate their families’ passion for their profession and the company’s commitment to 100% customer satisfaction. As for the site design: It now boasts a modern, streamlined look and feel with mouth-watering pictures of fresh seafood and a host of compelling extras such as recipes, health benefit information, and more. Top of the line customer service features, including view/update profile, express checkout, live chat, shipment tracking, sales tax/shipping calculator, self registration, real-time product availability, and more round out the picture.
Success:
While the site has only recently gone live, it is already on track to become a major success as advanced ecommerce capabilities and maximized user comfort lead to significant upticks in conversion rates and ticket sizes.
Services:
To date, ECommerce Partners has provided WildPacificSalmon.com with the following services:
- ECommerce Development Module for Custom Cart Features
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- Secure Shopping Cart
- Promotion & Marketing
- Payment Processing
- Gift Certificate
- Shipping & Fulfillment
- Ongoing
