Bridging the Gap – The Old Byre Showroom
In the digital age of online retailers it can be hard for consumers to gauge exactly what a business is all about. This is an important process for a consumer as it helps to build a level of trust, and that’s why for businesses with an offline presence, pages such as the ‘About Us’ and ‘Contact Us’ pages are a vital bridge in establishing trust.
Photograph from Arran taken by uplandaccess via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
One retailer who trades both online and offline is the Old Byre Showroom. Their wonderful shop is popular with tourists visiting the western coast of the Isle of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde. As you can imagine, a good amount of referral traffic passes through their online store on the back of these visitors, but the website serves as a first stop for prospective visitors to the Island too.
The Old Byre Showroom Home Page
Online visitors are welcomed by a clean website that conveys a hint of tradition through its branding. Messages are used to reassure potential customers that it’s a real world business run by real people. For example the tag-line reads “Proud to be a family business since 1967”. The website goes further to bridge the gap between the offline and online aspects of its business by including a picture of the shop interior, information about its onsite cafe, ‘Cafe Thyme’, and lengthy and informative About Us page content.
Not many websites create meaningful connections between their online and offline businesses, but it’s an important aspect of establishing a relationship with a visitor and potential customer. You can visit The Old Byre Showroom to take a look at a successful approach to such a problem, as well as shop for authentic Scottish products including Aran jumpers and real sheepskin slippers and rugs.
Tags: Authentic, clothing, Highland, Island, Jumpers, Old Byre Showroom, scotland, Scottish, Traditional