Twinings - Kentico

Twinings
www.twinings.co.uk
Background
Twinings is one of the UK’s most trusted brands. Continually providing tea enthusiasts
with the finest teas and freshest flavours for over 300 years, Twinings products are
now enjoyed in over 100 countries.
Goals
Industry
Retail, Food/beverages,
E-commerce
Partner
Ridgeway
Two Rivers, Witney
Oxfordshire
OX28 4BH
United Kingdom
www.ridgeway.net
Simon Lassam
Managing Director
[email protected]
01993 899000
It was important for Twinings that the right solution was created for both their internal
e-commerce team as well as their large customer base. From a back-end perspective,
the site needed to be functional, flexible and above all – incredibly efficient. Twinings
also wanted e-commerce, content management and marketing functionality all in one
platform – something that only Kentico could offer.
From a front-end perspective – Twinings wanted a site that could showcase both their
tea expertise as well as their extensive range – an angle of the company that no
supermarket could ever demonstrate. With both trade users and consumers looking to
buy online, Twinings needed a single site that could offer both parties a secure way to
make purchases. Although initially launched in the UK, a website needed to be created
that could be easily rolled out for a low cost to other countries. To make sure the
stunning product imagery was not compromised, the site needed to be optimised
across mobile devices.
Challenges
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“I’ve worked with a lot of website development agencies, and
Ridgeway are by far the best.
Their ability to translate ambitious business goals into complex technical solutions is almost as amazing as their ability
to still be able to explain it all in
a way the whole team could
understand.”
Claire Blake
E-commerce Manager
Twinings
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Pushing the boundaries of Kentico 8 for e-commerce sales promotions.
A need to address key audiences on mobile devices.
E-commerce, content management and marketing functionality all in one
platform.
Creating a personalised user journey for each of the site’s visitors.
Competitive market
requiring extensive
supporting content.
Ambitious creative
and technical
solution required.
Solution
The initial phase of the
project was a series of meetings to discuss Twinings' requirements in full with a
number of key people from within their business.
Ridgeway used the output from these discussions, along with their knowledge
of Kentico's platform and on-going collaboration with Twinings to further define and
group the requirements into functional and non-functional areas that would need to be
delivered as part of the solution. These areas were then prioritised to form the final
scope of the solution.
“It was clear from our very first
meetings with Twinings that
they had a clear vision for their
project. The key to success was
to be able to provide a solution
that would deliver compelling
brand content, support a significant increase in online sales
and allow Twinings to begin
building a refined customer
experience. I’m proud of what
our team has achieved and that
we’ve been able to do it for
such a well-respected brand.”
Simon Lassam,
Managing Director,
Ridgeway
Twinings put their customers at the heart of everything they do and wanted a site
underpinned on user-centred principles, so once the scope of the solution had been
agreed, a number of workshops were then held to discuss the different types and
forms of content that Twinings would like to have on the new website and how the
online marketing features of Kentico could be used to tailor the content and the user
journey for six audience personas that Twinings had identified as being key archetypes
of their customer base. With a clear vision of a compelling user journey, Twinings
worked with Ridgeway’s Performance Team to solidify navigation and functionality
with wireframes and live prototypes before development began.
The live prototypes were a key component of the planning and specification phase
because they allowed the Performance Team to iterate much faster on ideas for
solving user experience issues with some of the more complex page layouts (such as
those found in the checkout) than would otherwise be possible using more traditional
static wireframing tools. They gave both Twinings and Ridgeway confidence that the
same, uncompromised user experience would be had no matter what device the
website visitors were using.
The wireframes and live prototypes were joined by a functional specification prior to
entering the design phase of the project. Due to the wireframing and prototyping work
that had already been done, the design phase of the project was relatively short.
Ridgeway once again worked very closely with the team at Twinings to make the most
of their strong brand, stunning photography and strong creative vision – they also
delivered full-page mock-ups of the website.
Once the design was complete, development of the solution began on the day that
Kentico 8 was released. There were numerous challenges to be overcome during
development, including communicating in real time with third party systems such as:
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MetaPack for shipping costs and carrier selection
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Feefo for customer reviews
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SmartFocus for email marketing
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SagePay and PayPal for payment
Ridgeway used their experience, having implemented integrations with a number of
third-party systems into Kentico in the past, to select the best approach for ensuring
third party systems worked smoothly with the website. Ridgeway used custom
modules, custom providers, custom events, integration bus, scheduled tasks and
combinations of each to deliver functionality as was appropriate. Some of the
customisations extended
existing Kentico functionality
and some were built as
bespoke solutions for
Twinings to ensure a seamless
flow of data to enhance
operational efficiency.
Ridgeway also worked closely with Kentico’s team on the core platform to ensure the
strong e-commerce vision was met without compromise. Twinings' requirements for
the solution included the ability to manage many types of promotional discounts (e.g.
buy one, get one free) that did not exist within the platform at the time of the Kentico
8 release. Ridgeway worked closely with the e-commerce team at Kentico to define
requirements for a new core module to be built that would meet Twinings's
requirements and also add more value to the Kentico platform's core e-commerce
offering. The functionality was built and delivered by Kentico 8.1, and made it into
the Twinings solution in time for launch.
Ridgeway built up a library of page templates and widgets that allow Twinings to use
both fixed templates for some areas where consistency is key (e.g. product pages) as
well as very flexible templates where there needs to be more variation in how content
is delivered (e.g. brand content pages). Kentico's portal engine provided all of the tools
Ridgeway needed to meet those requirements out of the box. Custom layout web parts
were used to allow content editors to define blocks of the page where content widgets
(such as rich text areas, responsive images, pull quotes, hero images) can be placed.
Any combination of layout web parts and content widgets can then be used to allow
Twinings to create a highly designed look across the site with minimal effort.
Twinings used this structure along with well-crafted photography and copy to offer
consistent aesthetics and tone of voice across reading recipes in the blog, purchasing
products or engaging with a promotion. The site is also built using a responsive design,
which meant that Twinings’ striking imagery was not compromised on mobile devices.
As well as its strong content management and e-commerce offerings, Kentico's online
marketing functionality was a key part of delivering on Twinings' requirements. Contact
management, conversions and activities are used to identify and assign visitors to the
website to Twinings' personas and each of the layout web parts and content widgets
on a page can be personalised to deliver targeted content and tailor the user
journey for each visitor.
Ridgeway’s Performance Team continue to work with Twinings to identify
opportunities, which optimise the site performance to ultimately drive sales.
The Support Team are on hand to provide training, updates and technical expertise
to ensure every recommendation is backed up with a solution.
Results
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In the site’s first month of going live; transactions, revenue and number of page
views have all significantly increased.
Trade and consumers are provided with an online e-commerce experience that
nurtures not only sales, but builds brand loyalty and advocacy all through one
integrated content management, e-commerce and marketing platform.
Each visitor receives a unique journey with direct engagement and rewards that
lead to loyalty and increased sales.
Key criteria for selecting Kentico
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Content management, e-commerce and marketing functionality all in one
platform.
Easy-to-use content management capabilities.
Built-in automation and personalisation modules.
Easily cutomisable e-commerce features.
Content could be easily and efficiently maintained by Twinings’ small ecommerce
team.