Press Releases
Fluid Lands JanSport, Design Within Reach and The Body Shop
Online Retail Leaders Choose Fluid for its Creative Leadership and Technical Expertise
San Francisco, CA., March 30,2005 - Fluid, Inc., a leading provider of innovative e-commerce and rich internet technology solutions, today announced three major customer wins for its e-commerce practice. New customers in 2005 include Design Within Reach, an integrated, multi-channel provider of distinctive modern design furnishings and accessories, The Body Shop, a values-driven, high quality skin and body care retailer, and JanSport, the world's largest marketer of backpacks.
The high-profile customer wins are an indication of Fluid's growing momentum as it focuses on developing its e-commerce practice. The project wins cut across Fluid's key focus areas:
- Design Within Reach (DWR) selected Fluid to create an immersive, interactive user experience for configuring Interface FLOR tiles.
- The Body Shop is undertaking a refinement of their checkout process to increase conversion and integrate new features such as the Love Your Body loyalty program. A key element of the engagement is a quantitative analysis of the enhanced solution versus the previous checkout process and industry standard metrics.
- JanSport selected Fluid as its interactive agency for the company's primary consumer website, JanSport.com. Fluid will perform a near-term update of the site to improve the user experience and navigation while assisting in the development of a long term online strategy for the company.
Added to the company's existing relationship with leading consumer brands such as The North Face, the Picster image customization application in use on Cingulair.com, and Avery Dennison's Funstamps.com offering, Fluid has established itself as the leading provider of custom, shopper-centric e-commerce Rich Internet Applications (RIAs).
JanSport Vice President of Marketing and RD&D Todd Yates stated, "We were familiar with the high quality Fluid brings to every project. When it came time to choose and agency to articulate our brand message and deliver an update the online experience they were the first place we looked. As the world's leader in our segment, JanSport expects is vendors to bring the same leadership and vision. Fluid delivers on this requirement."
The customer wins are further evidence of the momentum behind the Fluid retail practice. The retail practice delivers near-term ROI to customers by applying consistent methodologies and creating reusable technology solutions in four specific practice areas:
>> User Experience Modeling optimizes how users interact with an e-commerce site by building intuitive, transparent navigation and ensuring visual design is appealing and on brand.
>> Conversion Mapping takes a quantitative approach to improving the customer's bottom line, analyzing and addressing key page transitions and dropout areas.
>> Fluid's develops custom visually rich applications to improve online store performance.
>> Fluid's interactive merchandising tools analyze product-specific margins, visual appeal and conversion rates to maximize a site's performance and its user experience.
In addition to the aforementioned areas Fluid continues to expand its integration expertise by working with a stable of industry leading e-commerce technology providers.
"Fluid is thrilled to add such well respected brands to its customer portfolio. It is a great indication of the momentum Fluid has built within its e-commerce practice. Further, the customers represent an almost perfect cross section of our practice areas: User Experience Modeling, Conversion Mapping, custom application development and Interactive Merchandising," said Tamir Scheinok, Fluid CEO.
About Fluid
Fluid is a San Francisco-based digital product development firm specializing in Rich Internet Applications and e-commerce solutions. Fluid specializes in the delivery of user-centric solutions that combine inspired design, rigorous usability and innovative technology to help clients build their brands and improve their bottom lines. Fluid's has been in business since 1990 and its clients include The North Face, Yahoo!, Avery Dennison, Microsoft and Charles Schwab, among others. More information about Fluid is available at http://www.fluid.com/.
About JanSport
JanSport, Inc. is the world's largest marketer of backpacks and a leading producer and marketer of outdoor-oriented equipment, accessories and travel bags. The company is headquartered in Appleton, WI and has offices in Everett, Wash., England, France, Hong Kong, China, The Netherlands, Germany and Italy. JanSport is a division of the VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC), the world's largest apparel company and a leader in jeanswear, intimate apparel, knitwear, playwear, workwear and daypacks. Its principal brands include Eastpak®, Lee®, Wrangler®, Riders®, Rustler®, Vanity Fair®, Vassarette®, Bestform®, Lily of France®, Lee Sport®, Healthtex®, Red Kap® and The North Face®.
About Design Within Reach
Design Within Reach, Inc., founded in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco, is an integrated, multi-channel provider of distinctive modern design furnishings and accessories. Using a single common "in stock and ready to ship" inventory, the company markets and sells its products to both residential and commercial customers nationwide through www.dwr.com, the DWR catalog, Studios, and direct sales force.
About The Body Shop
The Body Shop International Plc has over 2,000 stores in over 50 markets worldwide. A global retailer of high quality toiletries and cosmetics, we are also committed to environmental protection and respect for human rights. We develop trading relationships with communities in need; we are against animal testing in the cosmetics industry; and we encourage education, awareness and involvement among our staff and customers.