INDIGO REDESIGNS WEB SITE
By Adnews Staff
Book seller Indigo Books & Music of Toronto has redesigned its web site at <http://chapters.indigo.ca> in an effort to attract more customers during the upcoming holiday shopping season. The modifications were handled by Blast Radius of Toronto and are being promoted with public relations from Edelman. The look of the site has been altered to appear cleaner and to "provide a more focused experience" to users. The search function has been improved. Editorial content including best sellers lists and book recommendations have been added. A new function allows users to check for the availability of a given item at any three physical Chapters, Indigo or Coles stores. The site also carries an expanded inventory of music and films, and has added book purchasing options for hardcover, paperback, used or audiobook formats. The site also now sells iPod digital music players.
In related news, Indigo has recently released the results a survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid concerning on-line shopping in Canada. The survey found that 82% of Canadian online shoppers would prefer to shop at a Canadian-owned and operated Web site if price and product were the same. Also, 71% of respondents said they would be more comfortable shopping online if they knew the Web site also had reputable retail outlets. These are implied references to competitor Amazon.ca. "Leading up to the holiday season, Canadians have made it clear they would prefer Canadian Web sites with actual retail stores," said Indigo senior vice-president Jonathan Ehrlich. "Our multi-channel advantage has always been one of the key factors in establishing us as a leading destination for online shopping and our new site emphasizes that even more effectively."