Making Waves
Honored ecommerce platform built with Gaia Ajax
Background
As a part of their client’s multichannel strategy, the purpose of the project was to create an ecommerce platform and implement web shops for the Norwegian store chains Intersport and G-Sport. The requirements included building web sites with a high level of usability, rich product presentations and editorial content in order to support users in finding, selecting and purchasing sporting goods. In addition to making online shopping easy, the sites should support Intersport and G-sport retail shops by acting as virtual showrooms and helping users finding stores closest to them.
Functionality
The storefront presentation layers are built as ASP.NET applications running on EPiServer CMS. Finding and navigating products across categories is made possible with FAST Enterprise Search Platform. Product and customer data is integrated with Microsoft Commerce Server and the backend ERP solution.
The product presentation aims to give the user best possible background for selecting the right product. The presentation includes an Adobe Scene7 detailed image viewer, product texts and accessories and alternative product suggestions. If the user decides to purchase a product this is done as streamlined as possible with the help of Ajax, supporting the purchase process with clear feedbacks and unobtrusive updates of information. The shopping cart also relies on Ajax for showing the contents on demand, without taking the user away from the page he or she is on.
Why Gaia Ajax?
- Available libraries did not meet our requirements
- Gaia extends standard controls in a familiar way for .NET developers
- Gaia has a sensible architecture which support performance requirements
Summary
Making Waves wanted to support the users by making all parts of the navigation and purchase process as clear, task focused and smooth as possible. Gaia enabled them to meet these requirements with Ajax implementation as a natural and integrated part of the development process and in a cost-efficient manner.