Masterpiece launches Pongees online solution

History

Pongees are one of the most highly respected silk merchants in the UK. With a heritage that dates back to the 19th Century, Pongees provide silk to meet the exacting demands of top couture designers, bridal and lingerie manufacturers, high street fashion retailers as well as supplying the world of film and stage.

Brief

Pongees’ previous website proved difficult to manage and was rarely updated because of this. Pongees wanted to raise their online brand equity by creating an elegant online solution that would reflect the essence of the Pongees brand.

Pongees supply over 1,000 styles and colours of silk. The site had to provide customers with a way of accurately identifying their fabric of choice and then order a swatch through the site.

Masterpiece - The Open Agency

Pongees selected Masterpiece to design and build their website. We not only demonstrated an understanding of the Pongees brand through our designs, but our ‘Open Agency’ approach using open source solutions reassured Pongees that they would not be tied in to expensive contracts with content management system providers.

The Delivered Solution

Masterpiece carried out a discovery phase that formed the basis of our project specification and informed the remaining phases of the project; design, delivery and deployment.

An open source content management system (Drupal) was deemed the ideal platform and was developed using e-commerce principles for the swatch ordering process.

Masterpiece also provided photography and colour matching for all 1,000 silk swatches. This ensured each product’s representation online would be accurate.

In conjunction with the website, Masterpiece were also tasked with developing a swatch book that Pongees could supply to customers. Previously, books were printed and these proved to be expensive and difficult to update.
Using the same images taken for the website, Masterpiece developed a large ring bound brochure that could be updated when new silks were developed, saving both time and money for Pongees.

Results

The new Pongees website was developed with search engine optimisation in mind. Since launch, site traffic has doubled and the number of swatch orders has increased significantly too.

Testimonials

“We were looking to re-launch our website and Masterpiece ticked all the boxes. I have to say that from the initial concept meetings and discussions about layout, content and functionality, they have been first class.

Communication throughout the project has been excellent and Masterpiece demonstrated a unique ability to understand our business, the project requirements and to deliver on time and on budget,

Taking into account the excellence of the photographic work which Masterpiece have as an in house resource we are delighted with the results. The speed with which jobs have been carried out and their overall professionalism, all delivered in a friendly manner, has been key to the success of our project.”

Will Steele
Managing Director
Pongees Ltd

“It’s been a delight to work with such a wonderful client as Pongees. The project has thrown up some interesting problems that we have found elegant and creative solutions too.

I am extremely pleased with the project and am looking forward to continue to work with Pongees. We are already thinking about ways in which the site could be further developed.

I have also received a lot of positive feedback from other Masterpiece clients complementing us on the design and photography of the site.”

Richard Johnson
Head of Online
Masterpiece
Visit the Pongees website: http://www.pongees.co.uk

Contact:
Richard Johnson,
Head of Online,
Masterpiece
Tel: +44 (0) 207 729 0096
Contact us

Posted March 9th, 2009 by acansick | In category Colour Management, Design, Digital Photography, Masterpiece News, Online