Bi-lingual sales platform designed to support growth into Japanese market

Bi-lingual sales platform designed to support growth into Japanese market

Luxury chocolatier, Artisan du chocolat, has appointed digital agency Foresite to redesign its online sales platform, in order to support the expansion its Japanese offering.

The British purveyor of designer hand-made chocolates has stores in Chelsea, Notting Hill and Selfridges, and has been selling via its website to the Japanese market since 2002. Foresite has been briefed to redesign the existing site and create a Japanese equivalent that can run in parallel.

The agency will be using e-commerce platform Magento, an open-source application that enables retailers to control every element of their online store, from merchandising to promotions.

Gaining international web control

Branwell Moffat, founding director at Foresite, commented: “Magento allows us to restructure the UK site and create a fully-localised Japanese version, to ensure that customers in both countries can enjoy the same quality of experience when browsing and purchasing chocolates from the online stores. Using Magento’s translation files, the two sites can be managed on the same piece of software.”

Artisan du chocolat was founded in Kent in 2000 by chocolate artist Gerard Coleman. The business started as a fine dining supplier to the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal, but soon became famous in its own right for designer creations that incorporate an array of flavourings, including saffron, sundried Iranian lime and Earl Grey tea.

Co-owner of Artisan du chocolat, Anne Weyns noted: “Our stores are known by chocolate aficionados for their exquisite design and attention to detail. Customers visit us to experience chocolate at its very best in a luxury environment; we would like to offer our online patrons a similar experience.”