Build-A-Bear Workshop
St. Louis Business Journal - by Linda Tucci
workshop.buildabear.com
1st place -- Ease of Navigation
1st place -- Most Innovative
2nd place -- Business-to-Consumer
2nd place -- Best Use of Graphics
2nd place -- Most Unusual
Date launched: October 1999
Address: 1964 Innerbelt Business
Center Drive, St. Louis, Mo. 63114
Phone: (314) 423-8000
Fax: (314) 423-8188
To be sure, visitors to the Build-A-Bear Workshop Web site cannot cuddle the furry creatures, but the online shopping experience comes close to capturing the real deal.
Shoppers can do everything from stuff and stitch a virtual animal to install customized sounds. They also can register for a birthday party at Build-A-Bear's 14 (soon to be 39) stores nationwide, apply for a job or catch up on the latest games and news in the Beary Newsworthy newsletter.
"Most Web sites are marketed toward adults, whereas our brick-and-mortar stores are marketed to children. The challenge is to recreate the store experience online," said Maxine Clark,chief executive bear.
When Clark launched Build-A-Bear Workshop in the Saint Louis Galleria in 1997, she knew she wanted a Web presence, too. The original site, launched two years ago with help from local graphic designer Bev Schofield, offered 10 animals and 10 outfits for sale, information about the company and a means for customer feedback.
Customers soon made it clear they wanted every animal, every outfit online. Overseen by Schofield, about 3,000 photos were taken by Todd Studios on Washington Avenue over 25 days early last summer. Schofield's design group then prepared the photos, stripping out the background, correcting color and creating animations (bears being stitched, getting their red satin heart implants, etc.).
The next step: redesigning the site as a portal for children. Enter Master Web Bear Ronnie Gaubatz, a local freelance Web designer. "I started in August with the insane expectation of building an e-commerce site and launching in October. Basically Bev and I were here 24 hours a day for a period of six weeks," Gaubatz said.
She explored several computer languages and settled on Cold Fusion, which allows designers to serve up Web pages "on the fly," meaning that pages are created based on user input. For example, if a customer chooses Curly Bear ($15), Cold Fusion remembers and responds accordingly when the customer selects the Deluxe Wedding Ensemble ($15) or the two-piece Nurse Outfit ($8) as Curley's dress-up attire.
Armed with broad outlines of what they wanted, Gaubatz and Schofield went to Internet World, a weeklong conference in New York, to refine ideas and take a crash course in Cold Fusion. Back in St. Louis, Gaubatz worked on the "back end," entering the 3,000 products, while Schofield worked on the "front end," designing the site's "look." Then they worked closely on navigation.
"We wanted it to be as simple to order from as Amazon. The only problem was that we offer so many choices, so ultimately we had to think outside of that model," Schofield said.
At the end of October, at 3:30 in the morning, with Clark and several staff members on hand, they launched the site. "We hit submit, and it worked. It was a very emotional moment," Schofield said.
Latest News |
Most Viewed Stories |
Most Emailed Stories |
