Hi Adam

Something you might want to try is going to our Agencies and Consultants Directory at http://www.e-consultancy.com/providers/ and then in the Search area try 2 things:

1. Search on relevant keywords e.g. 'cosmetics' or peers and competitors of yours.

2. There is a filter there which says "Client list contains...". Always interesting to find out who is working for your competitors.

Might throw up some useful contacts.

Ashley

On 11:03:41 26 June 2003 tbs_input wrote:
>I am looking to recruit a consultant (or consultancy) with
>specific experience of migrating an offline brand onto an
>e-commerce site. Would anyone have an idea as to where I
>may find this expertise.

I would be happy to discuss this project with you. My consultancy is listed on e-consultancy.

Hi Adam,

You already have some good feedback on this thread. Each consultancy that you approach will have a slightly different approach to the migration process.

But it is worth remembering some key points, and criteria for selection.

1: work with a consultancy that understands both online and offline channels. They should really understand branding — and how an e-commerce strategy fits into the whole picture. They should be comfortable helping a client to achieve internal buy-in for e-commerce, especially if the budget is significant.

2: they should know how customers interact with websites. In a highly competitive marketplace, no brand can afford to frustrate its customers through the experience of using a website. Your competitors are only a click away.

3: they should have a track record of successful e-commerce sites. It should have reached all the business performance targets, and perhaps the ROI has been clearly established. Ask some hard questions, and see which of your short-listed consultancies can deliver on this.

4: they should be aware of how users react with sites. Choose a consultancy that has usability expertise, and has the ability to undertake comprehensive user testing of e-commerce websites, prior to launch. The gap between expectation and reality can damage a brand’s reputation.

5: they should have a wide range of technical expertise — proven expertise with e-commerce platforms, and integration with back-end technical architectures.

6: they should be nice people, and you should feel comfortable working with them. The best work is done when strong, long-term relationships are established. Ask for client references.

Try dba.org.uk, or aargroup.co.uk for high-quality consultancies.

Hope this is useful. We would be very happy to talk with you about a project of this nature. Our projects include the brand repositioning of Superdrug, and an award-winning e-commerce site for Orient-Express.com.

David Gilbert
Nucleus
www.nucleus.co.uk

Adam

You have already have had some very constructive detail, especially from David Gilbert. All the stuff that David talked about was obviously important but more important is the need to understand where your particular enterprise should start the process of migrating online from.

I have been responsible for taking several brands online varying from the first websites for Marks & Spencer & Thomas Cook, the first trading kiosks for Daewoo and NatWest, the first iTV applications for Thomas Cook & Argos and multichannel strategies for Argos (wnich directly ended with their website turning over more than £100 million p.a. from a base of £50,000 p.a. when we started), IKEA and Knight Frank to name a few.

The differences in all of the projects was where they eventually started from in terms of change. As an example Argos already had a successful website given the time 3- 4 years ago and in their mind the project was all about re-inventing the site. However after the early exploratory exercises we did it was very soon obvious that a more fundemental change was needed to re-evaluate the way they handled data for the business in total rather than a re-design of the website. If we created what we called a 'Core Engine' for the business then that would facilitate migration onto any channel in the future and would be much better investment as has been proved correct. Witness the latest forays into mobile with 'text & take home' for example.

I would be happy to talk to you to share my experiences as I'm sure would be Andy Morrey at Argos who was our client and is probably the guy in retail with the most experience and best track record in moving brands online.

You can contact me at The Yellow Yoyo Company (01525 229 335 or )

Best regards

Bryan

Bryan Wright
Managing Director
The Yellow Yoyo Company

Hi Adam, Digivate is an agency specialising in ecommerce and emarketing and has been taking multi channel and mail order brands online for the past 5 years. Clients we have worked with include Selfridges, Richer Sounds, Past Times and Sofa Workshop.

We would be very happy to share experiences and help you with your project.

You can contact me at Digivate on 020 7274 6071 or .

Best regards

Will Gotley
Managing Director
Digivate