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The techniques used to engage, retain and entice customers

Joe Browns is based online; although there is a catalogue available, there are no physical shops to visit. This means that the website needs to find ways to advertise and make themselves known. The Joe Browns site was launched in 1999, and since then they've had over 300,000 customers. In 2006 they reached number 53 in the Sunday Times 100 Fastest Growing Companies. This must mean that they are doing something to keep their customers. They are not very widely known, and do not advertise much. I heard of them by word of mouth three years ago, and I haven't seen an advert for them since then. They do have a myspace page and an account on blogger.com, which are used to promote the site. Although the advertising is limited, the theme is appealing and well-designed. The colours and fonts attract a certain type of person, with a unique style, slightly surfer, slightly hippy; the kind that would like the unusual clothes of JoeBrowns.



The speed of the website is not a problem; it is not a slow flash website but a simple html that can be navigated around quickly and easily. This is important, otherwise customers lose interest and leave the site. I tested the speed of the website using iwebtool.com, with the following results:

Size of site:

23.93 KB

Time took to load:

0.94 seconds

Average speed per KB:

0.04 seconds



Although this is slower than some of the more popular websites, such as google/yahoo/amazon, it is still quite quick.

Another important aspect of the site is that it should be updated regularly, with the correct prices and information relating to the product e.g. how many are in stock. Many websites have a database running with the site to update the website when stock is low/sold out. We can assume joebrowns.co.uk does this, as most transactional websites do. The homepage is up to date as it is relevant to christmas, which is only 3 weeks away. It gives the last date for ordering if you want your gifts to arrive before christmas. Customers are engaged by the website not only because of its design and products sold, but the pages such as What we like, which are purely for the customers entertainment purposes.


Types of transactions that can be made


The methods used to capture customer information


The customer 'experience' offered


Conditions of purchase