HMV has taken its inspiration from the store in planning the latest version of its ecommerce website.
Designers at Ridgeway working on a new look for the multichannel entertainment retailer’s website made their first stop a visit to its flagship store on Oxford Street for an insight into the in-store experience.
The final website, built using Ridgeway’s Ecommerce Accelerator on the Kentico Content Management System, takes in-store promotions online, while ‘buy now’ buttons are added to editorial features on hmv.com. Pre-orders are created automatically when customers product that is a yet to be released. The site is integrated, using APIs, with fulfillment and product data systems and payment methods are linked to loyalty rewards.
So far, initial sales have been “impressive” with a significant percentage of shoppers returning to buy again.
“The last thing we wanted is to become ‘just another high street retailer’,” said Steve Partridge, head of ecommerce at HMV. “This is more about offering the ability to buy what the customers were demanding, whilst retaining what has been unique about the experience entertainment fans get on hmv.com”.
