ANALYSING FOUR ALCOHOL MERCHANTS WEBSITES

STELLA ARTOIS,STRONGBOW,GROLSCH,GUINNESS

Online Booze

Introduction

Editor messageHello my name is Niall Gerry I am a student

at Buckinghamshire New University currently completing my degree in marketing and within this document I will be analysing 4 different websites within the market sector of the sale of alcohol with a focus on website design and development

The chosen Websites are as follows Strongbow http://strongbow.com/#challenges/stand-up

Stella Artois http

://www.stellaartois.com/en/gb/_age_gate?ReturnURL=%2fen%2fgb%2fhome

Guinness http://www.guinness.com/en-gb/

Grolsch http://www.grolsch.co.uk/

Contents

5-12 Introduction13-16 Market Situation17-20 Target Market21-24 Website Design Aims25-26 Customer orientation27-28 Page Design29-30 Interaction31 conclusion

Strongbow http://strongbow.com/#challenges/stand-up

The brand Strongbow named after the Anglo-Norman knight Richard De clare is a well estabalished brand within the Uk alcohol industry.

Owned by H.P Bulmer Strongbow is known for its strong and crisp cider’s at affordable prices

Founded in 1962 it has become the worlds largest cider owning a 15% global market share and a 29% share of the Uk market

Its website captures the traditional brand imagery and helps introduce people to the products and the brand as a whole

Strongbow

Stella Artois http://www.stellaartois.com/en/gb/home

Tracing its roots back to 1366 via tax records the Belgium based brewery has a long rich history and first started brewing the iconic drink in 1926.

Involved in many different media campaigns Stella is well known for being the primary or even sole sponsor of Cannes, Melbourne and Sundance film festivals

Within its latest campaign is has attempted to position itself more up market from its past consumer pre-conceptions aiming for a classier more suave audience

Stella Artois

Guinness http://www.guinness.com/en-gb/

A rich and historic brand Guinness has been brewed within Ireland since 1759 and has sailed to the heights of one of the most successful beer brands in the world

Brewed in almost 60 countries ad available in over 100 Guinness has a strong global influence with annual sales totalling 850 million litres

The website displays strong connection with the brands history and roots from Ireland and within recent years Guinness has attempted to strike the balance between respect for tradition and appealing to a younger market

Guinness

Grolsch http://www.grolsch.co.uk/

With a legacy stretching back to 1615 Grolsch is proud of its brand heritage stretching back to its founder Willem Neerfeldt the brand itslef now being owned by SABMiller for the tidy sum of  €814 million

With a focus and price point of being aimed a more upmarket drinkers Grolsch is defined as being a “premium” lager with a certain air of European class growing up with its initial youth market of the 80’s

The website obviously proud of Grolsch’s history like so the other sites chosen pushes forward this pride and expresses easily to consumers a trusted well established brand

Grolsch Premium Lager

Market situation

Global beer markets have seen fluctuations within recent years with the development rush and advent of consumerist type consumption within developing nations beer has seen a stark increase in sales and demand within these countries such East Asia, Brazil, India etc. The “sweet spot” for global brands to attack appears to be the Latin and African markets. With the rising demand and maturing of developing markets one of the benefits presented is that of consumers seeking a broader range of products hence the improved demand for Premium products be it imported or local.

Market Situation

However as is shown the European market for beer has still seen success managing to overcome stock market predications for 2012 by 24% by “large cap brewers” however the overall volume of consumption within Europe has seen a downward slide

(Source: Bloomberg)

Market Situation

Unemployment levels falling saw a seemingly reinvigorated US market make volume growth of 1.1% within 2012 making it the first year of growth within the US market since 2008

At the sae time Barley prices began to stabilize after good harvests from western Europe and the price of aluminium fell dramatically

The industry growth has left many groups with fragmented or defunct IT or office units sparking many a large company such as SABMiller and Heineken to launch a programme to improve said systems that have been left behind by rapid growth positioning the importance of a unified and well put together IT experience of customers making the base model western versions all the more important in order to cut costs improve user interaction yet keep local flexibility

Market Situation

Target Market

StrongbowThe target market for Strongbow is primarily

male with a focus on very masculine characteristics as shown by there marketing campaigns and Ad content

Target Market

Guinness A brand primarily positioned towards male reaction Guinness

has for years been the drink of choice for rugby watchers across the UK however in recent years Guinness has attempted to diversify its portfolio in terms of customer base, aiming instead for a more youthful market with some new products to support this such as Guinness red.

Known for its bold and brilliant adverts of the past and present Guinness is a strong brand with a strong male customer base

Target Market

Stella Artois The target market of Stella Artois has typically in the past been those of a lower wage

group and class, typically males due to the strength of alcohol within the product, this stigma has ridden the brand until very recently Stella Artois has envisioned itself as a classy mid-market European sophisticated product for the more discerning customer. With said changes to brand image a whole new line of products was launched such as Stella Artois Cidre. These shifts have allowed Stella to contact an otherwise hard to access sector of the market in woman with sharp Ad’s and a less male dominated front Stella has diversified its customer base to that of mid wage bracket male and female older 20 something's.

Target Market

Grolsch A youthful yet reasonably expensive brand within the 80’s Grolsch

has adapted and grown up with its initial audience within the UK Starting life as a young “hip” brand Grolsch has made the effort in

order to adapt into the mature “Premium” lager that see we today with a target market ranging from young 20’s to older 30’s and 40’s with a price point that only attracts those with a modicum of disposable income

Website Design Aims

The aim of a websites design is to smartly accommodate the user and create an experience for them that promotes the brand in there eyes and helps to secure loyalty from the user and make them more likely to support your brand building up a strong customer relationship making users more forgiving of the brand failures and more praising of its success making the brand overall stronger. The 3 main aims of a company on a website are Customer retention, aqquisition and extension

The design priorities of a site also differ depending upon objectives set by the business the different types are as follows

Transaction/e-commerce based siteService orientated/relationship building info siteBrand building site

Website Design Aims

Customer needs are also taken into consideration In the design process these are as follows

Help them buy something they need-SellHelp them find information-ServeHelp them save money-SaveHelp them talk to the organization-SpeakHelp them to enjoy a great web experience-

Sizzle

Website Design Aims

Each of the four sites analyzed are a mainly Brand building type of site, however each also has aspects of relationship building within them this is displayed via strong brand messages on colour and very stylish presentation of products to entice customers into remembering the brand next time they are shopping

Guinness, Stella and Golsch all display in depth history features to there site that build brand connection and display that the sites are mainly used for an entertainment information gathering aspect

However the Strongbow site rather than having such features as a history time walk instead opts to promote its latest marketing campaign viral video’s in order to build brand awareness and offer entertainment.None of the sites however are based on e-commerce or actually physically selling the product displayed

Serve: Each site looked at tries to give its user the best experience possible and offers a number of different informative articles and social connectivity options

Sell: None of the sites are focused on selling a physical product from the site itself however promotion of products found within bars and pubs is prevalent of course however Strongbow does have an option to add a 4 pack of cider to your favourite supermarkets online shopping basket however when attempts were made at using such a feature no response was had

Speak: Each site has a contact us tab and each site also links to social connectivity sites such as Facebook

Customer Orientation

The goal of the usability test carried out on the 4 websites in order to rate each for how easy to use and navigate from a human perspective was to find a list of the products sold by each company

Strongbow- Initially greeted by the age confirmation page once inside the Strongbow site properly one is greeted by a clear cut title bar with a number of different options available however the site lacks a search bar, the product collection was easy to request and find by clicking on the large “Our Cider’s” button however the site feels very basic especially compared to the other the lack of search button would also hinder any more detailed attempt finding more precise information 6/10

Customer Orientation

Stella Artois- Greeted by an age verification screen as is par the course special note must be made at how fluid and easy the selection process of the dates are compared to the other sites rather than electing in for fill in text boxes Stella has laid out the dates across the wide screen in a large splash allowing for easy selection once inside one is greeted with a rotating main screen each displaying either Ad content or brand slogans with an overall easy and clear to see control bar at the top an easy to use search bar is included also for precise requests, however the task was easily soled when “The collection” on the title bar was clicked 8/10

Guinness- Age verification followed by a smooth rotating home screen that again dsplays Ad, competition and brand content a main menu that disappears upon inaction is smoothly revealed upon roll over and again a search bar is included, a clear “The beer” option easily directs those searching to the product list 9/10

Grolsch- Age verification onto something relatively similar to the other a rotating middle box window displays different hot features on the site and or hot information deemed important above other with a clear main title bar with “The beer” offering an easy solution to the challenge however again the lack of a search bar makes the sight potentially very unwieldy to use 7/10

Page Design

+Logo on every page links back to the home page+Copyright information at bottom of page in dead zone so as not to distract+Main menu that self hides until needed and is accessed via hovering over it allowing for more focus to be put upon the main sliding Ad box that offers direct link to features of the site or Ad’s for the product, it rotates constantly on a time delay+Social media links

+Logo on every page able to bring user back to the home page+Copyright info at the bottom-No image carousel +No outsider Ad’s +Social media links

Page Design

+Carousel title main screen +Logo available on every

screen to bring user’s back to home

+Copyright info at the bottom of page

+Social media connections

+Carousel header used to display news ad website content+copyright information at the bottom+Ability to make an account+Logo on all screens to bring you back to home-no social media connections

Interaction

Interactive features within a site can help strengthen user relationships with the brand advertised and allow for a better overall web use experience, they can also be used to collect information as to user preferences and likes and dislikes

Interaction types Mouse clicks (Mouse event) Mouse rollover Drop down boxes Drag and drop If used well and continually within a site a user experience with the site can be greatly improved

examples within the 4 sites of these tools include Menu appears upon mouse rollover

Mouse rollover activates drop down menu

Conclusion

Strongbow- Simple and clean art style with easy to access button however simplicity lets it down. Needs more information and a search tool

Stella Artois- Stylish art direction and plenty of information however font may be an issue for those with bad eye sight and large front page carousel is can distract from the main menu options Needs perhaps a different font usage despite it being in the style of the brand

Guinness- Brilliant cosy art style with strong brand identity throughout without giving up usability and accessibility, good use of interaction throughout the site and lots of information given overall the best website out of the four Improvements would have to include a quicker responding and scrolling main menu bar

Grolsch- Simple design with a surprising amount of information makes the site nice to use however art style and overall layout are a bit bland and empty feeling Needs a different art style and layout to make better use of space and more easily direct the eye