Other case studies... Swahili ImportsOregon Cotton MillEarth Studio Paradigm Multimedia

Meet Oregon Cotton Mill, home of the clothes you love to wear!
Oregon Cotton Mill, in Eugene, Oregon, offers quality cotton clothing that is not only comfortable, but also care-free. Their friendly staff is committed to providing the highest level of personal (and personable) service. To that end, the web site has been designed to mimick the look and feel of an actual visit to the shop.

Project Overview
Oregon Cotton Mill approached us to provide them an easy-to-navigate e-commerce web site design that included quite a bit of color: just like their clothing. They wanted someone visiting the web site to see the same styles and colors as they would walking into the Courtyard 5th Street Public Market location.

The current Cotton Mill web site is a custom design that offered access to their online catalog with brands and clothing-types right right on the home page.

eCommerce Features Include:

• Multiple categories for each item (by both Brand & Clothing Type)
• Detailed view of color options for each product so you can actually see what the cloth looks like
  
• Gift Certificates & Coupons
• Changing featured gift and new product venues
• An announcement section on the home page for special sales and offers
  
• A secure shopping cart solution that integrated to their in-store merchant account
• Suggestive selling with "On Sale" feature (item is flagged for special treatment)
  

Smart Stuff Oregon Cotton Mill Does
We gave Oregon Cotton Mill the tools to reach their customers and give them an easy shopping experience with lots of bells and whistles. They use those tools to make their site successful. Some smart stuff they do...

• Update the site often to give customers a fresh look at products
• Send regular email bulletins offering new product info and coupons, with links back to the site. Over 1000 visitors have signed up for Norma's email bulletins.
  
• Spend time and money (and patience!) with Internet marketing
• Keep track of traffic, sales, conversion rates and revenue patterns related to monthly newsletters with their statistics program
• Keep the site up to date with our e-commerce software upgrades so they stay on top of features that make it easy for customers to shop and easy for them to manage their site

What has the project done for Oregon Cotton Mill?
Online sales have increased 700% in the last 4 years - meaning that revenue from the web site can make up for any slower times in the store. The monthly email newsletter can highlight inventory items that need to move somewhat quickly, with one recent newsletter motivating 14 customers to buy a single item within a day.

Just as important is that the site manager offers an easy way to add & update information for any user: even one who is not familiar with the inner-workings of computers or html. Norma describes the site manager as "easy as pie."

Complete List of Bells & Whistles:

• Multi-level category e-commerce shopping cart
• Custom Site Manager for updating inventory
• Content Management capability to manage other content areas
• Related Products and up-selling feature
• Product options (colors & fabrics)
• Gift certificates
• Coupons
• Changing home page venues