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GSI Totally Redesigns Dick's Site
AUGUST 09, 2006 --
(11:00) GSI Commerce (GSIC) and Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS),the nation's largest full-line sporting goods retailer, unveiled a radically redesigned and highly enhanced Web store designed to drive the authentic look and feel of the DKS brand across all channels, address the needs of the retailer's key customer groups and deliver a rich online shopping experience.
The new Web store leverages "store-within-a-store" shopping and informational hubs, which parallel DKS' in-store experience and cater to specialized interests such as golf, team sports, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities; powerful parametric search and navigation features; and the use of dynamic, rich media in visual merchandizing.
The new Web store was explicitly designed to support the DKS brand, support a mutually reinforcing multi-channel offering and excite online shoppers by enriching their online shopping experience. DKS hired GSIC's marketing and design services group to undertake and complete the project.
"The new Dick's Sporting Goods Web store provides our customers with a state-of-the-art, online shopping experience while authenticating the quality and authenticity of the Dick's Sporting Goods brand," said Jeffrey Hennion, DKS' SVP/chief marketing officer. "We believe this new Web store positions Dick's Sporting Goods as one of the leaders in multi-channel retailing."
The features of the new Web store are noticed immediately upon arriving at the home page where a new, richer design quickly grabs a visitor's attention. A new, top-level product and information menu bar is featured, making it easy for visitors to go directly to their area of interest where 11 major product categories are represented; e.g., racquet sports, team sports, footwear and apparel, etc. In addition to the redesigned navigation schema, two alternative navigation schemes are offered - shop-by-sport and shop-by-brand.
Also displayed in the top menu bar are tabs to stores within the store or shopping hubs, which are areas devoted to specific interests or pursuits consistent with key customer groups. The new online store features the hubs of the Golf Shop, the Lodge for hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities, and the Perfect Season, which is devoted to the team sports of football, basketball, baseball and soccer. The hubs are designed as interactive shopping experiences and places where customers frequent even when they are not making a purchase.
Each hub is stylized with photography and designed with a look and feel specific to that area of focus. As the site matures, new special content and interactive features will be added to the hubs making each a distinctive community within the Web store. Each hub is designed around the target customer for that specific store-within-a- store, based on research done by DKS and GSIC.
In the Golf Shop, customers can track their golf handicaps with an online handicap tracking tool. Scores and course information are entered and the handicap tracker automatically calculates and maintains a golfer's handicap online, which customers can then access through the online account tracking system. There is also a section offering professional advice called Pro Advisor where customers can read tips on how to improve different aspects of their game.
Upon entering the Lodge, visitors immediately are met with outdoor sounds, stylized photography and dynamic scene changes - letting them know they have entered a place of special interest. Customers can then choose to explore the hunting, fishing or other outdoor activities venues.
Selecting the Perfect Season, shoppers are again met with enhanced graphics and rich media and are provided options to shop in areas that focus on football, basketball, baseball or soccer.
"This new launch marks the first phase of the online shopping hubs for Dick's Sporting Goods and we expect to continue to develop and enrich this concept as we roll through the year," said Steve Davis, GSIC's SVP/partner and marketing services. "Our goal is to make each hub an interactive experience where customers not only come to purchase product, but to share information and exchange ideas about their special interests, which builds the destination value of the hub as a special place for groups of people with similar interests and sporting pursuits."
Shopping in each of the hubs is easy with new parametric search and navigation features, which are also deployed on every product page throughout the Web store. The new search and navigation features allow shoppers to find products quickly and easily based on parameters they select, or based on familiar terms. Easy-to-use search parameter and product attribute boxes are displayed to the left of every product providing the customer a convenient way to narrow searches and find the product they want quickly. Customers can also shop their favorite category by a wide variety of search options including brand, price ranges, gender and age, as well as on product attributes such as sizes, colors, dimensions and models.
For example, a shopper that selects the fishing category within the Lodge has the option to shop by all the fishing- related brands offered by the online store. Also within each category page, shoppers are also presented search choices to shop by featured products, new arrivals and top sellers, which are dynamically updated based on a continual feed from GSI Commerce's integrated product catalog and databases.
A convenient category browser view is attached to each product page enabling a shopper to browse the category while on a product page. For example, a customer can select to see the product page for a set of golf irons. While on that page, the customer can continue to browse the product family of golf club "irons" through the use of the browser box. A customer can click forward to view the "next" set of irons or go back to view "previous" sets. A thumbnail picture is provided for each selection in the browser window and the names of the current, previous and next items are also displayed. Additionally, wherever a customer travels within the product or category pages of the Web store, the names and links to the last four products shopped, researched, placed in the cart, or added to a wish list are listed in a "recently reviewed" box along with a thumbnail picture of the most recently shopped item. Clicking on listed item returns the customer to that product.
The site also incorporates two newly released enhancements added recently to the GSIC platform - express shop and mini-cart. Built with Ajax technology, the Web 2.0-based features allow online consumers to view additional product detail and attributes, purchase multiple quantities of a product, add products to the shopping cart and view the products added to the cart - all without leaving the Web page on which they are shopping. Express shop is a feature that streamlines the shopping process within a particular category or family of products; for example, when a customer shops a selection of treadmills. As the customer glides the mouse over a treadmill image, a "quick info" tab is superimposed over the product. If a customer is interested in more detail on that particular treadmill, the customer clicks on the quick info tab and a window opens with information specific to that product. Express shop allows the online shopper to stay in the product category while shopping a selected product.
Once a shopper adds an item to the checkout cart, a mini-cart appears in the upper right corner of the main product category page allowing the shopper to view the items selected for purchase. The mini-cart feature displays the products added, the quantities and cost. Without leaving the category product page, the mini-cart automatically provides the shopper with a quick and convenient verification of the items added to the shopping cart.
Designed to encourage shopping loyalty across channels and further enhance the online experience at Dick's Sporting Goods, the following shopping enhancements were also added to the Web store:
* Helpful "How To" Information - For each category and each product family, a "how to" section provides customers with helpful shopping tips about the products, buyers' and owners' informational guides and sizing charts;
* Product Reviews - Customers can also rate, write and read product reviews;
* E-mail - There are convenient e-mail buttons on the product pages allowing product information and page links to be e-mailed to friends and family;
* Product Comparisons - Customers can select and compare up to eight products within the same category and have the information displayed side-by-side for quick review;
* Rich media - Advanced zoom, spin and rotate of product images allows a customer to view several aspects of the product before purchasing;
* Dick's Sporting Goods News & Events - A revamped news and events tab features news and event information about DKS and its store locations;
* Gifts - A new gifts tab provides customers with gift ideas, gift wrapping, gift cards (redeemable online and offline) and options to personalize products;
* Integrated Loyalty Program – DKS' "Scorecard Rewards" shopper loyalty program is now available online and is integrated with its offline stores, making it easy for shoppers to participate in the loyalty rewards program any time they shop the chain;
* Wish Lists - Customers can create and maintain their own "wish lists" which are accessed through a customer account tracking system where customers can also go to track orders, update shipping and billing information, and edit shopping interest selections
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Categories
Shopping carts
Sporting goods industry
Design
Basketball
Apparel manufacturing
Companies
DKS
Dicks Sporting Goods Inc.
GSI Commerce Inc.
Concepts
SPORTING GOODS
product page
online shopping
online shopping experience
product category
People
Jeffrey Hennion
Steve Davis
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