He says of this decision today, "You get what you pay for."
This first attempt, Rosen feels, got them only "50% of the way there." Kevin felt that the first Junior’s site was merely a "cookie cutter site" created by a large firm that didn’t fully understand the business or the needs of the customer. He discovered that the people he was communicating with were, generally, not the people directly responsible for building the site, and often, ideas and information were lost as they traveled down the chain of command. This was particularly frustrating to Kevin.
"I’m the type of person that likes to know exactly what’s going on. I don’t have blind faith, in other words." It became clear that the initial web site didn’t address Kevin’s, or the company’s needs. But Kevin still believed that having an online presence was important. Although his first experience with the site had mainly taught him what didn’t work, he maintains that he wouldn’t have done things any differently.
For him, the learning process had been valuable, even if the final product wasn’t as successful as he had hoped. Furthermore, he now knew what he did want from his web site, and he had a solid vision of how the site should operate.
For the redesign, Kevin worked with MobiusWEB (www.mobiusweb.net), a small New York City-based web site developer. Immediately, Kevin knew he had found a match. Because it was a small company, rather than a large production house, he found himself in direct contact with the designers and producers who would be rebuilding the site. This also allowed him to take on a much more active role in the process: "I needed to be very involved in the development process because I wrote the software that we use to fulfill the offers. I needed to play an integral part in developing the site as far as what information is needed- both the front end and the back end."
Kevin believes that the two most important functions of the web site are to generate sales growth and to increase brand awareness. In that spirit, the new site focuses primarily on e-commerce. Twelve different specialty cheescakes are offered, as well as gift certificates and collectibles. Users have the capability of creating their own personal address book on the site, so repeat orders and gift-giving can be handled in a mouse-click, and orders can be easily tracked from the site.
Placing an order at juniorscheescake.com is as easy—and perhaps more convenient— than walking into the store or using the 800-number. This ease of entry is crucial to bringing customers back to the site again and again. "We’re 85% there," says Kevin, who is aware that evolving technology means that there will always be room for improvement. With approximately 5000 cheescakes selling every week, it is clear that Junior’s Cheescakes has the recipe for success.
Business profile courtesy of
Family Business Strategies.
