Freenorth Duty Free Inc. recognized a good opportunity when they saw one—an online duty free shopping venture targeting the net-savvy traveler. The idea promised all the low overhead benefits of e-commerce, with the added bonus of complementing the profile of their bricks and mortar outlets. Their challenge, however, was to fend off the expected onslaught of competitors with an enticing site that was both simple to use and easy to manage.

With today’s world of frequent travelers, any duty-free enterprise juggles an ongoing flow of fresh new products. With this in mind, Freenorth wanted a dynamic, scaleable site for quickly and easily adding new products, pricing and product categories, and of course provision for immediate purchase. Incorporating both graphical and text based product content, the site’s ease of adding, deleting, and updating material by the site owner was paramount.

From initial needs analysis to through to site planning and construction, Freenorth online was up and running in about three months with a full end-to-end solution. A mini photo studio was set up to capture product images for uploading to the database. Next, the resident client database was created, allowing owner input of new material, including new major product categories, sub-categories, name brands and new lines.

The end result was a client-based solution that up-loaded automatically to the live site. Invaluable marketing data on customer could be collected through ordering information and surveys. Navigation throughout the site was dynamic. In addition to the known cost-efficiencies of e-commerce, the new site also allowed almost infinite expansion of product offerings without the need to enlarge existing floor space or staffing numbers.