River Island to revamp site as it rethinks web platform

Working with web agency Conchango, it began work on the project in February, but won’t commit to a launch date.

Instead, Conchango managing consultant Alan Bernard said the fashion retailer is taking the time that it needs to create a compelling online customer experience.

River Island believes it is important to refresh its online store to meet the changing needs of its customers. It is not yet releasing any details of particular features or functionality that will be added to the web site.

However, the idea is to create a scalable infrastructure that makes the site easier to edit, manage and develop in the future. Conchango is to use its Digital Commerce Platform as the basis for the site, integrating it with River Island’s back-end systems.

Bernard said the retailer wants to improve sales on what is “already a popular site”.

Conchango is being given access to River Island’s existing panels of customers in order to assess features that could be added to the new site. It will also be taking into account the look and feel of the retailer’s physical stores.

Bernard said: “Our aim is to make sure that there is a strong correlation with what happens in-store.”

The joint project team is using Conchango’s agile development method. This breaks work down into four-week chunks, with new software code available at the end of every cycle.