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<p>The problems with River Island's Flash site were identified when it was first launched in 2006 - this <a href="/forums/other-topics/accessibility-we-can-t-get-it-right-on-the-high-street-what-hope-do-we-have-on-the-web?page=1#forum_post_4610">discussion on the Econsultancy forum</a> covers the issue - and it seems to have taken a long time to produce an <strong>accessible non-Flash version</strong>. </p>
<p>River Island made the mistake of not considering disabled users in the design phase of the website and consequently <strong>excludes a significant proportion of the population from its website</strong>. It has displayed <a href="http://xml.riverisland.com/flash/ri_accessibility.html">this apology page</a> for more than a year now, advising disabled users to <em>'watch this space</em>'. </p>
<p><img alt="River Island Accessibility apology" height="138" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3432/3289434155_a9e4c00a37_o.jpg" style="vertical-align: middle;" width="448" /></p>
<p>Despite the accessibility issues, Bradbury says that River Island's e-commerce channel is performing well, though I wonder how much better it could perform? </p>
<p>It isn't just the lack of accessibility, the website could also be <strong>more user friendly for all visitors</strong>. The navigation could be better, basics like contact details are impossible to find, while River Island has also suffered in terms of SEO by sticking to Flash for so long. </p>
<p>Despite Google's recent moves to start indexing Flash sites, River Island still <strong>performs poorly in the organic search rankings</strong>, even for <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gingham+shirt+and+tie+river+island&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a">precise searches</a> on products I know are on the website. </p>
<p>It has also performed poorly in a recent eDigital Research <a href="/blog/3282-etailers-need-to-work-on-customer-service">customer satisfaction survey</a>, with the lowest mark out of 39 top UK e-tailers, and scoring badly for site search and navigation, as well as customer service.</p>
<p>In response to Paul's question about the Flash site, Bradbury did say that the company is <em>'in the process of moving away from our current flash based retail site'</em>, and that relaunch is due later this year.</p>
<p>I think that, however well River Island's e-commerce channel may be performing at the moment, losing the Flash site and moving towards more of a <em>'best practice driven e-commerce operation</em>' as Paul puts it, could have a huge impact on its success. I'm just surprised that it has taken so long.</p>
<p>The problems with River Island's Flash site were identified when it was first launched in 2006 - this <a href="/forums/other-topics/accessibility-we-can-t-get-it-right-on-the-high-street-what-hope-do-we-have-on-the-web?page=1#forum_post_4610">discussion on the Econsultancy forum</a> covers the issue - and it seems to have taken a long time to produce an <strong>accessible non-Flash version</strong>. </p>
<p>River Island made the mistake of not considering disabled users in the design phase of the website and consequently <strong>excludes a significant proportion of the population from its website</strong>. It has displayed <a href="http://xml.riverisland.com/flash/ri_accessibility.html">this apology page</a> for more than a year now, advising disabled users to <em>'watch this space</em>'. </p>
<p><img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3432/3289434155_a9e4c00a37_o.jpg" alt="River Island Accessibility apology" width="448" height="138" /></p>
<p>Despite the accessibility issues, Bradbury says that River Island's e-commerce channel is performing well, though I wonder how much better it could perform? </p>
<p>It isn't just the lack of accessibility, the website could also be <strong>more user friendly for all visitors</strong>. The navigation could be better, basics like contact details are impossible to find, while River Island has also suffered in terms of SEO by sticking to Flash for so long. </p>
<p>Despite Google's recent moves to start indexing Flash sites, River Island still <strong>performs poorly in the organic search rankings</strong>, even for <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gingham+shirt+and+tie+river+island&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a">precise searches</a> on products I know are on the website. </p>
<p>It has also performed poorly in a recent eDigital Research <a href="/blog/3282-etailers-need-to-work-on-customer-service">customer satisfaction survey</a>, with the lowest mark out of 39 top UK e-tailers, and scoring badly for site search and navigation, as well as customer service.</p>
<p>In response to Paul's question about the Flash site, Bradbury did say that the company is <em>'in the process of moving away from our current flash based retail site'</em>, and that relaunch is due later this year.</p>
<p>I think that, however well River Island's e-commerce channel may be performing at the moment, losing the Flash site and moving towards more of a <em>'best practice driven e-commerce operation</em>' as Paul puts it, could have a huge impact on its success. I'm just surprised that it has taken so long.</p>
2009-02-18T09:21:18+00:00
6
1
html
<p><strong><img alt="Flash" height="82" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3474/3289440647_de831d93f3_t.jpg" style="float: left;" width="85" />River Island is one of the only high street retailers which hasn't significantly improved its e-commerce offering over the past couple of years, and still retains an all-Flash website</strong>.</p>
<p>I have been wondering for a while when River Island would look to improve the site, and <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2009/02/18/river-islands-ceo-richard-bradbury-on-growth-of-online/">Paul Rouke of PRWD has a few answers</a> after attending a Q&A with CEO Richard Bradbury last night.</p>
<p><strong><img style="float: left;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3474/3289440647_de831d93f3_t.jpg" alt="Flash" width="85" height="82" />River Island is one of the only high street retailers which hasn't significantly improved its e-commerce offering over the past couple of years, and still retains an all-Flash website</strong>.</p>
<p>I have been wondering for a while when River Island would look to improve the site, and <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2009/02/18/river-islands-ceo-richard-bradbury-on-growth-of-online/">Paul Rouke of PRWD has a few answers</a> after attending a Q&A with CEO Richard Bradbury last night.</p>
false
3317
<p>For best practice web design, see Econsultancy's <strong><a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/effective-web-design-best-practice-guide">Effective Web Design Guide</a></strong>.</p>
<p>For best practice web design, see Econsultancy's <strong><a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/effective-web-design-best-practice-guide">Effective Web Design Guide</a></strong>.</p>
River Island finally ditching Flash site?
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2009-02-18T10:10:00+00:00
river-island-finally-ditching-flash-site
2009-04-30T04:53:21+01:00
2009-10-13T10:02:12+01:00
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