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Cadbury Schweppes ITR’s home page |
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Product details are accompanied by good-sized photographs |
Website of the Week: Cadbury Schweppes International Travel Retail
Cadbury Schweppes is one of the biggest international confectionery and beverage companies in the world. With a history stretching back over 200 years, the company employs around 54,000 people and its brands are sold in almost every country around the world.
Style
Generous helpings of navy blue on a white background make the home page (see picture, top left) unmistakably Cadbury. It’s dominated by an in-your-face rectangle which houses a modest photo of a Dairy Milk bar and the slogan, “Making the world a sweeter place”.
It’s a warm welcome and no doubt some users will be thankful for the absence of any too-clever-by-half distractions. But move away from the home page and this business-to-business site doesn’t have the same visual impact as the consumer-focused www.cadbury.co.uk – taking its sister site’s simple idea of incorporating the products into the design (pieces of chocolate as link buttons, for instance) would help gain extra style points.
The unfussy Verdana, of various sizes, is the chosen font.
One minus point is the flagging up of the company’s stand at TFWA Cannes 2006 three weeks after the event, which makes the front page look out-of-date.
Content and usability
The site is simple and easily navigated. Four thumbnail-pictured links down the left-hand side take users to pages on the company’s international travel retail interests – Bassett’s, Cadbury, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Flake – which contain thorough information on brand history, positioning and range, with accompanying photos.
It seems like a missed opportunity to let the products sparkle, though, that when you click on any of these four links, you’re met first by a introduction page containing a sky blue text box and have to scroll down before reaching a series of generously-sized, colourful photos.
The six buttons across the top of the site are static, appearing on each page for trouble-free navigation. Indeed, getting around the site is almost as pleasurable as tucking into a Flake and you’re never more than a click or two away from where you want to be next:
The Brands button directs users to the same pages as the home page left-hand links, while head to Products and the full ranges are handily split into Informal Gifting, Premium Gifting, Self Consumption and Sharing categories, again with good-sized images.
The Display pages offer merchandising guidelines for retail partners, “to drive visibility in store and generate increased levels of category penetration”, with illustratory visuals. Retailers are asked to contact their local Cadbury Schweppes International Travel Retail sales manager for further information.
What’s New currently contains three sizeable articles posted since July – on the availability of artificial colour and flavouring-free Bassett’s Jelly Babies, two new additions to the Cadbury Chunk Bags range, and a similar extension to the premium Cadbury Luxury Selection range.
Press and Company Information complete the top shelf, as well as a site map, legal information and contact links, plus a useful search facility.
The overall impression is one of substance over style, though a little more of the latter – at the very least, a leading role for the product photos – could be accommodated without any sacrifice.
What we like:
Easy navigation due to a simple layout
Ability to view products by catgeory, as well as by brand
What we think needs improving/adding:
Some of www.cadbury.co.uk’s style
Product photos to be given more prominence
Visit www.csitr.com/en/Retail/.
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Website of the Week: British Airways Highlife Shop – 12/10/06
