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Table of Contents

Cover Page 1

Table of Contents 2

Introduction 3

Design Thinking 4

Host Meeting 5

Online Research & Survey 7

Idea Generation 13

Recommendations 15

Conclusion 23

Appendix 24

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Ardkeen Quality Food Store

Creative Thinking & Innovation Project

E-Commerce Report

21 October 2015

Introduction & Innovation Team Challenge

As part of our Creative Thinking and Innovation Module of the UCD Postgraduate Certificate

in Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Enterprise we as an Innovation team of 6 were tasked with

a project hosted by Ardkeen Quality Foodstore in Waterford City. The challenge for the

company was to establish a niche in new markets using eCommerce to leverage their very

good relationship with many small suppliers of excellent quality food. The challenge faced by

us on the Innovation team was how to make the eCommerce project a great success. The

company launched and developed a new eCommerce website in April 2015 with limited

success to date. The tag line "The world's best range of Irish Artisan Food" is used. We were

tasked with a number of areas to tackle such as:

Driving traffic to the site

Conversion of that traffic to real business

Average spend online

The grand long term plan presented by the company is to develop a successful business as a

niche retailer firstly in Ireland, secondly in the UK and then internationally.

Company Background

The company is an independent, locally owned and managed food retailer founded in 1967. It

has grown in popularity and scale over the years and has developed a unique food offering. It

specialises in sourcing the best fresh produce and local foods from artisan food producers that

they know and trust and have created a strong working relationship with. Being independent

they have the flexibility to buy the produce their customers want and now possess a range of

fine foods that surpasses all competition in terms of food quality & provenance. An extensive

range of products is also cooked and baked daily at Ardkeen using only the best of

ingredients. The Ardkeen philosophy is to provide great value, better quality food and

excellent customer service.

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Design Thinking

The approach we used to help innovate a solution to the problem was "Design Thinking".

This is a 5 step process which aims to give a deeper understanding of the problem at hand,

which could potentially lead to a large number of varied solutions. The following steps are

written about in greater detail further into the report. This is just a quick summary of the

process

The first step in the design thinking process is Empathy. The idea of the empathy stage is to

try to get a feel for what sort of things people who shop online go through and what makes

for good and bad user experiences. This we did in a number of ways - reading about online

shopping, looking at many different sites, interviews, questionnaires and shopping online

ourselves. We spent a lot of time on this step as its helpful to gather as much information as

possible here, to make it easier for us as we go further into the process.

The second step of the process is to Define the problem. This is not necessarily what people

perceive the problem to be, but what the actual need is. This is summed up nicely by Henry

Ford's quote "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said "Faster Horses"".

Once the problem was defined we moved onto step 3, Ideation. This is essentially a

brainstorming stage which allowed us to explore a wide variety of potential solutions.

Step 4 is to create a Prototype - a basic, functional model of what we envisioned our solution

to be, allowing us to move onto step 5, Testing. This is the fifth and final stage of the design

thinking process which allows us to see how viable the solution to the problem actually is,

and whether there are any potential flaws that emerge once it’s been put into practice. If this

is the case, the process can be repeated as many times as needed.

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HOST MEETING

Our team met with Kevin Jephson on Tuesday 6 th October at Ardkeen Stores. Those present

were Kevin Jephson, Kelly Keane, Shane Murphy, Artemijs Poznaks, Paul Fitzgerald and Joe

Smyth.Information was gathered by Kevin giving us background information and direct

questioning by theteam.

Kevin gave us the following information on Ardkeen.com which included the following,

He realised the potential of business expansion in the online sector so set up a website

in April/ May 2015 but had no formal launch.

He wants to know and understand if there is a market for the online service and if

there is, what does he have to do to increase sales.

They have not had an official launch as Kevin feels they are learning this side of the

business and he wants to feel comfortable with it before a more formal launch. He

would rather make mistakes in private and is willing to change some things first.

Kevin queried if the site is working correctly? , is it targeted to the right audience and

are they presenting the goods correctly?

Kevin feels that something is wrong as people are not buying online.

The website name was mentioned and may be changed in the future but not now.

They do connect online with suppliers through their website and social media but no

connection with Irish food websites such as Love Irish Food.com as this site is not all

Irish Artisan food.

Kevin feels that suppliers would be happy with gradual growth as if they tied in with

multiples such as Tesco/ Lidl they may not be able to fulfil orders and may lose

independence.

Kevin questioned whether the products are organised correctly on the website.

We as a team asked the following question,

Who is presently using the site? ...... Kevin stated they are getting 800 unique hits

per week and sales of approx. 2/3 per week so online interest has not been

converted into online sales. Kevin would accept a 2/3 % conversion rate.

What is the target market? …… The target audience is people who value good

food and who are interested in where it comes from. Present inhouse market is

SouthEast region. Kevin spoke of opening a store in South County Dublin but the

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cost would be exorbitant so not practical at this time. They want to build a strong

online presence in Ireland and then expand into the UK.

Who are your competitors? …… Not interested in competing with Tesco (cover

all bases) and Lidl (cheaper). Focus is on quality, provenance, specialised service,

community of suppliers and independence. Present online competition is

fallonbyrne.com, donnybrookfair.com.

How far out from Ardkeen Stores do they deliver? …… At present they deliver in

Ireland and have delivered to UK. 500 products are available online in Ireland and

approx. 250 are available in UK, chilled foods can only be delivered to Ireland at

the moment.

What is present level of marketing? …… Present advertising is instore and on

website. It is important that large expense is not incurred at this stage. Ardkeen

were at Electric Picnic this year and some online discount vouchers were

distributed but no great level of activity was generated.

General Observations from the meeting

No loyalty card scheme at present

It must be right in Ireland before an expansion into the UK.

Discussions have been held with Enterprise Ireland and BordBia but Bord

Bia are more interested in the food producers.

Current customers who visit the store are not the target market.

Kevin realises that there is a problem, the Ecommerce is not generating

sales and can we advise him on what can and can’t work before they

invest more money into the project.

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Online Research

Firstly, in order to familiarise ourselves with the company and with the online system and

products that were on offer, we visited Ardkeen.com. We found the website very appealing,

bright and attractive with good use of product photos and offering option to review individual

products. We used Google search to find out the online presence of Ardkeen. We knew the

web address but wanted to see where it came in the list of general searches under the

headings (1) artisan food Ireland (2) artisan food (3) artisan food online shop, ardkeen.com

came out on top every time with Google ads. Ardkeen also featured a number of times on

Biabeag.com, a food blog promoting artisan, local Irish foods.

We looked at the other results of the search under the above headings and found there is

another company in Dublin, Artisan Foods, that sells artisan foods online but currently only

to catering companies and another company, Nolan’s of Clontarf, that have artisan product

information online but not the option to buy. It was apparent here that there was a space in

the market for Ardkeen to excel in. We researched other supermarket’s (Tesco, Supervalue)

online service and carried out mock orders to get an idea of the process involved, as no one in

our group had previously shopped for groceries online. We noted things like; delivery time

slots, delivery cost, delivery locations, ease of use and security of payment. We understand

that Ardkeen are not in competition with the everyday chain supermarket but felt that

employing a similar ordering system would still be beneficial. i.e. the option to choose a

delivery time that suits.

We carried out online surveys, asking the general public five questions relating to artisan

foods and the notion of shopping for food online. We gathered valuable information from this

that was imperative for how we came up with our proposal. The online survey is reported on

in more detail under the market research heading.

We tested Ardkeen’s online service and placed an order for delivery. We found that some

products needed additional information such as size/weight of product, nutritional

information and clear pricing, this is mentioned again in more detail under website

recommendations. After selecting our items and continuing to the checkout we were

prompted to give out contact, billing/shipping and payment details, with so far no mention of

delivery times. We continued to the next stage which was confirmation of order and

subsequently received an email explaining that when item were dispatched we would receive

further notification and a tracking number. This system is customary when ordering non

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essential items i.e not food. There is a certain expectation when ordering from a known

supermarket/store, especially with food items, that delivery would be same day or within

twenty four hours and indeed allow you the option to select the time that suits seeing as it is a

courier service and not an post. We rang the staff at Ardkeen straight after receiving the

confirmation email and asked for a guideline delivery time, the staff member who answered

the phone was polite and even though they didn’t have the information they took our details

and assured us that they would find out and call back.

We placed the order at 10:20, spoke with Ardkeen at 10:30, we got a prompt response and

Christine called back at 11:10 explaining that usual delivery is next day but that they would

accommodate us and send the items that same day. We got another call at 12:10 informing us

that one particular item was no longer in stock and we were offered a refund or replacement.

The possibility that an order can be placed online and then an item sell out in the physical

store needs to be addressed. Items were delivered at 12:30 as promised. It was a very personal

service and showed the level of care that the team at Ardkeen have for their company and

their customers, at the same time these teething problems need to be addressed if the online

service is going to be a success.

The Online Survey

After the results of our first questionnaire, we wasted no time in sending out a survey using

Surveymonkey.com. The survey contained 5 questions (2 open, 3 closed) and received 85

responses in 5 days. The questions asked were as follows.

1) Have you ever shopped for food online?

2) Would you shop for Artisan Irish Food online?

3) What would encourage you to shop for artisan food online?

4) What was the reason for shopping/ not shopping online?

5) Do you shop regularly for any other foods/services online?

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I’ll start by looking at the answers to the closed questions.

Our first question "Have you ever shopped for food online" was asked to get a feel for how

many people were using online food shopping services of any kind (not just Artisan foods).

The result was that 36% had while 64% had not

The second question "Would you shop for Artisan food online" was just a straightforward

way to gauge what sort of interest there was for the service Ardkeen is offering. The result

was that 52% would be willing while 48% would not.

The fifth question we asked "Do you shop regularly for any other products or services

online?" was asked to see how many people shopped online at all. The result was that an

impressive 78% of respondents shopped online while online 22% did not.

The answers we were particularly interested in were to questions 3 and 4 (the open

questions). The answers to these would help us define why people weren’t interested in

shopping online for artisan food and what could be done to encourage people to use the site.

After going through all the answers to question 3 "What was the reason for shopping/not

shopping online" we saw that there were two answers as to why people would not shop

online. The first answer was that people "Would rather shop in a real shop" (31 responses

such as "I enjoy the store experience", "Concerns over quality and freshness", "Lack of

information", etc.). The second reason people would not shop online was that people were

unaware of the service offered (20 responses such as "I didn’t know I could shop online",

"I’ve never heard of this shop", etc.). All the answers as to why people would shop online

could be grouped together under the headline "Convenience" (8 responses such as "Easy way

to get good quality food", "time saving", etc.)

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The answers to question 4 "What would encourage you to shop for artisan food online could

be broken down into 5 categories.

Quality "Quality guarantee" (11 responses)

"Service guarantee" (5)

"Same Day delivery" (3)

"Fresh, seasonal produce" (2)

Variety "Products unavailable anywhere else" (7 Responses)

"Large selection" (4)

Exposure "Better advertising" (9 Responses)

"Familiarity with brand" (3)

Price Price (16 Responses)

Offers (6)

Free Delivery (5)

Free samples (3)

Loyalty rewards (1)

Website "Easy Layout" (8 Responses)

"Information (On producers, nutritional information, health benefits)

(8)

With these results in mind, we were able to define possible barriers to potential customers.

Question 3 tells us the main problems are that people prefer the "In-store" experience and that

people are concerned about quality and freshness when buying online. As well as this, we

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also saw there is a lack of awareness out there, not only of the availability of artisan foods

online, but also of the Ardkeen brand itself.

Question 4 showed us that more than anything it was the price of produce that determined

how likely people were to shop online. Other key factors included how easy it was to

navigate the website and how much information about the products was available online. As

before, familiarity with the brand was also shown to be an issue.

These were all important insights we would have to keep in mind as we moved towards the

ideation stage.

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Street Survey

The first bit of market research we did was a loosely structured open interview. We

specifically chose to ask open questions to encourage our interviewees to share as much

information about their online shopping experiences as possible. Up until this point, we only

had the experiences of our group members to work with so we hoped this interview might

expose us to some other ideas which had not occurred to us. The information gathered from

this survey would help inform the questions we would ask in the online survey

Our questions were as follows:

1) Have you ever shopped online? If so, what products have you purchased?

2) Why did you choose to shop online for these products?

3) What made you choose the site you chose to shop from?

In response to question one, we found that nearly everyone we spoke to have had some

experience with online shopping. Some had bought food, but for the vast majority it was non-

perishables such as clothes, books and electronics.

When asked why they decided to shop online the two most common answers were that it was

cheaper to shop online and that shopping online gave them access to a much larger selection

of products, many of which were unavailable locally. Some interviewees went on to mention

that they did not like the idea of buying food online as it was important to them to be able to

handle the produce to check quality, read labels and see the nutritional values. Some said they

did not trust a website to be as discerning as they would be.

Nearly every interviewee had the same answer to the final question. The main factor in

determining what website they had decided to buy from was that it was a brand name they

recognized and trusted. Given that people were buying non-perishables for the most part, by

far the most commonly used website of everyone we spoke with was Amazon.com

With the information we gathered from this survey, we were ready to begin writing questions

for our online survey.

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The Generation of Ideas

The following is a list of ideas generated by the team to fulfil the challenges set forth.

Website: 4 seasons boxes on homepage User-friendly for tablet and phone Make your own gift basket/hamper Proof-read food descriptions Change website name/title to include Artisan and Irish About Us - include bios and pics of owners/employees Include Health Benefits/Info in food descriptions Have separate About section - not first thing on homepage Better tablet experience Link to: Expat Fb pages, websites, GAA sites, food blogs, expat pubs, food producers Update site offers regularly Make the website a portal for Irish artisan foods Website needs to be targeted as a driver of online sales Have offers on homepage Need for 2 twitter accounts? Wishlist Pop-up personal online shopping assistant – avail for questions etc. Online virtual farmer’s market

 

Incentives: Get people to make accounts More recipes Loyalty card/accounts/incentives Free delivery loyalty options Throw in free samples every now and again (online) Give discounts to suppliers for ingredients Seasonal products Deals of the week First time purchase offers Subscription services (like 4 seasons hamper)

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Hampers - cater for vegan/gluten free Give discount according to how many times they shopped Newsletter? Old ones to view? How often? Special offers Encourage people to leave reviews/testimonials on products Highlight positive wording - bold/italic More Free shipping Sending chilled/frozen internationally? Ideas?

 

Exposure: Ploughing match Instagram Account/ Pinterest Dedicated stall at farmers markets for a few months/ highlight the website Travel to all the country's farmer's markets Pop up shops in tourist dense areas e.g. airport Advertising - radio/tv Foodie bloggers Video on website and social media - cooking demos Target TV programmes - Irish chefs e.g. Rachel Allen Reach out to specific restaurants Link to other foodie websites Host events to meet suppliers/producers FB competitions St Patrick's Day in London More active on social media Cooking competitions with their products Food events/festivals around Ireland and UK St. Patrick's Day - Irish Food Market - London 2014 Trafalgar Square over 80000

people visited Portable food vans to provide sandwiches etc. using Ardkeen artisan produce

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Recommendations:

Virtual Farmers Market

After considering the main issues people had with online shopping in relation to food items,

the main one being trust; we came up with a concept that solves the issue of people wanting

to choose their own produce by getting the customer as close to seeing, feeling and smelling

the products as possible, online. The Virtual Farmers Market would offer a similar experience

to that of a traditional farmers market, but without having to leave home. Similar to popular

‘platform’ computer games, the layout would be from the point of view of the customer who

is free to walk around the field where the market is set. An Ardkeen Quality Food Store

banner would be the first thing you see highlighting the market entrance. The market itself

will feature all of the artisan and local producers’ products, each of whom will have a stall

with their company name above and lifelike portrayals of the products they have for sale on

the stall table. The producer’s avatar stands behind the stall and their profile is available to

view along with the option to chat, see FAQ’S and product information all with a wave of the

cursor. It would give visitors to the website an authentic experience where they can walk

around, browse stalls, look at products and their nutritional information etc, and even interact

with the suppliers. It would allow customers to get all the necessary information on products

while giving them the opportunity to ask their own questions to the producers themselves.

The idea would be that the market is available to view anytime but once a week there will be

a two hour slot where producers are online and available to talk with customers. If a customer

wants to buy a product they simply add to their basket and when they are ready to pay click

‘go to checkout’ and they will promptly be redirected to the Ardkeen website where they can

finish the transaction securely.

The concept of the farmers market making the transition into the virtual world has many

positives. For one, it will help the artisan producers to reach a larger clientele nationwide,

perhaps even internationally, without having the inconvenience of packing up a truck load of

produce and spending hours travelling and setting up a stand. It will also cut out the

speculative nature of the traditional farmers markets where producers have to guesstimate the

number of items that might sell as opposed to the online market where products are selected

and packed as the orders come in, this is especially beneficial for perishable or harvested

produce. For the consumer, the benefits are boundless, there is no rush or panic to buy, they

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can take their time and browse leisurely around the market knowing that they can purchase

their goods when they are ready without fear of them selling out like at a traditional market. It

is possible to see what goods are on offer 24/7 so you can have a good idea of what you’d

like before the market ‘opens’. The consumer will have access to any and all information that

is required on all produce and can even get the inside story from the person who produced or

grew the item, all without having to leave the comfort of their home. The virtual market is a

very practical way to get the quality products to your customer in a way that is convenient,

informative, time saving and modern with the added appeal of the authentic market

experience and being able to interact with the suppliers. The main reason people shied away

from buying food online was that they couldn’t get a feel for the item, most wanted to smell

and touch the products to get a better idea of the quality. The virtual farmers market

eliminates this issue by giving all the product information, and talking to the supplier about

their produce thus earning the trust of the consumer.

The other major concern which arose when surveying the general public, was the lack of

comprehension of the term ‘artisan’. We felt that if people understood what artisan signified

then they would be more likely to seek it out and purchase such items. The term ‘farmers

market’ is widely recognised and instantly portrays an image in your mind of fresh,

handmade/produced, traditional and top quality goods, therefore by employing this phrase

we immediately have the customers understanding without having to explain the notion of

artisan. The virtual famers market would have its own website which would be linked to

ardkeen.com. All payments would be processed through the existing website and we would

offer the option of delivery of items or collection from the store, with further plans to host

physical farmers markets in addition to the virtual one where you can also meet the growers

and suppliers but have your products ready to go.

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Exposure

One of the principle areas to tackle was increasing exposure and driving traffic to the website

which currently is not as high as the company would like. We identified a number of reasons

for this:

Local knowledge only of company

Local reach only of website

Lack of external social media links to website

Lack of website launch and website advertising

We focused on tackling these issues for the Irish and UK markets for the sake of this report.

We believe this is the route to take first before tackling the mainland European market. There

are three principle areas; 1. Festivals & Farmers Markets, 2. Social Media and 3. Website

Launch where we believe should be targeted. Use the website more as an online sales

portal/distributor for Irish Artisan foods as opposed to simply a company website (see

Website recommendations section).

1. Festivals &Farmers Markets

Ireland

A dedicated Ardkeen artisan food stall at the National Ploughing Championships in

the local food enterprise tent highlighting particularly the company's website and its

online ordering capability.

A dedicated mobile Ardkeen artisan food stall to travel around the country to all local

food festivals and farmers markets (those permitting retailers), not only in the

southeast region but nationally, and again highlighting particularly the company's

website and its online ordering capability.

UK

A dedicated Ardkeen artisan food stall at the Bord Bia organised All Ireland

Speciality Food Market in Covent Garden, London held annually over the St. Patricks

Day weekend. This annual event attracts over 80,000 people a day to the food market.

Again highlighting particularly the company's website and its online ordering &

shipping to the UK capability. Highlight that Ardkeen are the only current Irish

supplier of Irish artisan food to the UK.

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2. Social Media

Links to Online Food Blogs (Videos & Pictures)

Create and build relationships with online food bloggers with direct links on their

blogs to the Ardkeen website to drive new artisan food type customers to the site.

Send them samples to review. Include both pictures and videos. Research carried out

by us have shown that videos of food products are even more effective than pictures.

Links to Ex-Pat Facebook Sites

Create and build relationships with UK expat facebook pages, UK expat GAA club

facebook pages and UK expat Irish Pub facebook pages.

Create direct links on these pages to the Ardkeen website highlighting online shipping

of artisan Irish food products and hampers to the UK expat Irish community

Example Facebook Pages to target: Irish In Britain, London Irish Centre, The Irish

Post, London GAA

Twitter & Instagram

Consolidate the company's two Twitter accounts in to one. There is currently one not

very active Ardkeen twitter account and one very active Colin Jephson @ Ardkeen

twitter account. Two accounts are splitting the message.

Create an Ardkeen Instagram and Pinterest account where product pictures and videos

can be uploaded. These in particular can be linked to third party food blogs and third

party facebook sites. Food production videos and food cookery videos particularly

appeal to the artisan foodie blog community.

Facebook

Become more active on the company's facebook site. Develop competitions and

giveaways.

Create direct links to third party facebook sites mentioned above.

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3. Website Launch

The company has invested a lot of time and money in to creating quite an impressive

and visually appealing website. However there has been no official website launch

and very little advertising from it.

We recommend an official website launch to grab attention and a lot more advertising

of the existence of the website and online purchasing capability.

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Website Recommendations

Overall the team believes the website is really great. It’s user-friendly, interesting, colourful and not overloaded with information like other websites of its kind. The search tool is good and the stories and pictures of the food heroes are lovely.

Please find below a list of some recommendations for the website (for ease of use this list can be emailed if requested)

Supplier Product Error Type Suggestion Website Page

Wild Oats Gift PackMore information required

Info about Wild Oats, Ingredients of products, Picture of supplier (2 Soaps gift pack has much more info) https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/sundries/wild-oats-gift-pack

Ciara’s PantryJams

3 Jelly Gift Pack

More information required

Ingredients List needs to be completed, first sentence of info about product has grammatical errors https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/3-jams-blackcurrant-and-apple-jelly-four-fruit-marmalade-chargrilled-red-pe

Ardkeen

Online & In-store Gift Vouchers Image misleading

The €20 voucher image used for all voucher types could be replaced with a better image https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/hampers-and-gifts/online-gift-voucher/

Big Red Kitchen Box of 4 Jams Information not clear The ingredients list is not clear as to what product https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/box-of-4-jams

Joe's Farm Crisps

Gluten Free Mixed Beetroot Crisps

More information required No ingredients listed or nutritional information https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/mixed-beetroot-crisps-with-a-sprinkle-of-irish-sea-salt

Joe's Farm CrispsVegetable Crisps 

More information required No information/photo about supplier https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/joes-farm-vegetable-crisps-parsnip-carrot-and-beetroot-with-irish-sea-salt

ArdkeenGreat Granola Bundle

More information required

No information about individual products –ingredients/size of product etc https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/great-granola-bundle

Gubbeen Farmhouse Produce

Gubbeen Smokehouse Pepperoni

Spelling/Grammar mistake

Supplier's name is spelled incorrectly on info about product https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/pepperoni

Killowen Farmhouse Yoghurt

Killowen Probiotic Blueberry

Spelling/Grammar mistake "bluberry" in product description https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/chilled/probiotic-blueberry

Burren Smokehouse

Smoked Fish Platter 

Spelling/Grammar mistake The paragraph about product is filled with spelling errors https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/chilled/smoked-fish-platter

O'Neill's Dry Cure Bacon Co.

Dry Cured Rashers

Spelling/Grammar mistake

"shrinking the pan", "bout bacon" "that the average","phosphtes" in info about product https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/dry-cured-rashers

Ardkeen

Seaweed option in larder Error 404 Website error for link https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/seaweed/

Ballymaloe

Ballymaloe Original Relish Squeezy

Spelling/Grammar mistake "Yasmin no produces" in product description https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/ballymaloe-original-relish-squeezy-350g

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Ardkeen QuinoaMore information required

It would be great to have product history and country of origin https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/ardkeen-quinoa-500g

Clearspring

Organic Japanese Brown Rice Udon

Spelling/Grammar mistake "satisfyinh" in product description https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/larder/clearspring-organic-japanese-brown-rice-udon-200g

Tobys CiderToby's Original Cider

Spelling/Grammar mistake "sweetners" under dietary info https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/beverages/original

Writers TearsPot Still Irish Whiskey

More information required no information about product or ingredients or storage https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/beverages/pot-still-irish-whiskey

Stonewell CiderTobairin Irish Craft Cider

Spelling/Grammar mistake

"Operations have progressed now more modern press is used" in supplier information https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/beverages/tobairin-irish-craft-cider

White Gypsy Brewery

Belgian Dubell

Spelling/Grammar mistake

"White Gypsy even goes so far s to grow their own hops" in supplier information https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/beverages/belgian-dubell

Trouble BrewingDark Arts Porter

Spelling/Grammar mistake "definately" and "altogethr" in product description https://www.ardkeen.com/shop/beverages/dark-arts-porter

Along with correcting the information as above, we also suggest adding more information about the products including more photos and more information about the nutritional content and health benefits of the products. The ingredients lists should clearly show the more prominent ingredients to least prominent ingredients.

We suggest offering more fruit and vegetable options and also believe it would be beneficial to improve the filtering of products – sometimes when filtering for vegetarian not all of the available vegetarian products showed up. Adding a “vegan” option to the filters is another recommendation.

The stories and pictures of the food heroes are great. We recommend offering short video clips of the food heroes producing/preparing/cooking their products on the website along with on social media. Videos of employees cooking with the products is also a great option.

Incentives that grab the customer’s attention are needed on the homepage – first to encourage that first buying experience and secondly to show the benefits of customer loyalty. Offers such as free delivery or a discount for first purchase, followed by free samples or weekly/monthly special offers should be advertised clearly.

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Website Recommendations

Include “ Artisan Food “ in company name on website, example: “Ardkeen Irish

Artisan Foods“

Use the website as a sales portal for Artisan Irish Food which means maybe

becoming the central distributor of all Irish Artisan Food online.

Amend homepage to emphasise the availability of varied hampers and utilise your

present instore customers to build this strand of business.

Amend the homepage to offer offers/ incentives which would include deals of the

week, seasonal hampers, free samples and first time delivery offers.

Amend homepage to become sales portal as described above.

More nutritional information and health benefit information in product descriptions.

A personal online shopping assistant to answer any questions/ queries while the

customer is online.

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Conclusion

The recommendations more or less comprises two suggestions and one innovation. The

suggestions speak for themselves and should be cost effective and simple to implement.

Obviously our innovation is a simple prototype made in 6 days to give a basic idea of how a

program like this could be implemented. For the online virtual famers market, to go further,

there are a number of steps that could be taken.

A completed version could feature all of Ardkeen’s suppliers, as well as room for expansion

should more suppliers wish to be a part of this service. A fully functional live instant

messaging service will be available to allow customers interact and chat directly with the

food producer. Given the near limitless possibilities when creating a digital world, the online

market could in theory offer virtually anything else you can imagine.

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Appendix

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