Giant Tasks and Simple Solutions

19 May 2012 Posted in Project Launch

When Irish retail book giant Eason chose Ehaus to build its new website, Ehaus MD Matthew Pollock wanted to keep ease of use to the fore.

“With over six million products in the Eason database keeping presentation and site management simple is essential,” comments Matthew.

Ehaus were the right choice for the Irish giant due to Ehaus’ experience in working with publishers and the book trade and because of its unique, highly flexible website building tools. Eason also needed to move quickly and get a new platform in place to take advantage of broadening market opportunities.

The Eason site is one of the first designed to make use of the new aggregated trade feed which, developed in association with partners BDS, is a pioneering step forward in the provision of cultural media data to the trade.

“We offered a single data feed with data stored in a consistent and sensible way,” continues Matthew. “We also made use of our system modules that offer a wide range of resources that could be modified to fit the particular Eason trading environment.”
The new Eason website is already serving over one million searches a day on books, stationery, e-readers, and e-books supplied through Overdrive.

Ehaus responded to initial talks by implementing a new system of website development and management in less than three months.

“We are used to working to tight deadlines and meeting the requirements of clients overseas and we are experienced in adapting to markets that operate differently to the UK,” says Ehaus Managing Director Matthew Pollock. “For example the Irish don't really use post-codes which requires a different approach to validating addresses and taking credit card information.”

The result is a customer-focused website that generates higher levels of sales and ensures return visits. It is also planned to include a special BIC mapping for Irish book titles on the new site.



“The great benefit for me,” concludes Matthew, “is that instead of having to merge, aggregate and mix over half a dozen wildly different data feeds into a single database as well as loading some eighteen million prices each morning, I just have to load a single feed. Such ease of use has to be good for everybody, the builder, the client and the consumer.”

Dublin-based bookseller Eason can trace its history back to 1819. It has branches across Ireland and is the country’s largest book retailer with 66 stores including its airport outlets in Cork and Dublin.

Visit the new Eason website built by Ehaus on www.easons.com.