WebSphere Commerce Newsletter

New Heights: Learn about the New Online Venture from The North Face

By Teresa Zobrist, Zobrist Consulting Group, Inc

In partnership with Zobrist Consulting, The North Face® recently launched their new online site, thenorthface.com. The new site features the first ever eCommerce store for The North Face, built on WebSphere Commerce Version 6.0. The new site offers users an unprecedented level of customization and content-to-commerce integration.

The goal of the new site for The North Face was to create a completely integrated brand experience to ensure customers experience the brand in the same way across all channels, whether online, shopping in a store or watching athlete videos. The Zobrist team created a new WebSphere Commerce Version 6.0 architecture to deliver on that request and allow brand content to be woven throughout the site with Lotus Web Content Management (WCM) and OmniFind Discovery Edition (ODE). This task was especially challenging because the site features over 3,000 discrete units of content, an unprecedented level of rich, brand content that includes video navigation, product animations and personalization.

The site also offers community features such as product reviews, product ask and answer tools, athlete gear lists and share with a friend/blog/post features that required integration with third-party systems. The Zobrist team developed these features in a way that allows the features to be presented completely within the framework of the site and used in locations across the site.

"In conjunction with our agency partners, we've created a site that will enable our customers to easily and enjoyably shop for the gear they need", explains Greg Pulsifer, The North Face GM of eCommerce. "Our new site will provide outdoor enthusiasts with inspiration to get outside, push their limits and keep coming back to thenorthface.com for motivation and gear.” The North Face plans to release six additional sites in Canada with English and French; in Europe with English, French, Spanish, German, Italian; in Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, China, and South America.

During the site development, Zobrist communicated regularly with IBM. "The hard work paid off", said David Privett, eCommerce Sr. Solution Specialist with IBM. "The new site is state of the art. When you can't actually be out skiing or climbing, it's the next best thing. Zobrist has helped The North Face create a site that will build long lasting customer relationships." IBM selected Zobrist for the 'Best B2C Deployment' Leadership Award at the 2008 WebSphere Commerce Leadership Summit.

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