BFI launches Filmstore online

Film enthusiasts worldwide can now access a wide selection of DVDs, books, gifts and other film-related products from the British Film Institute's collection at its new Filmstore website.

This is thanks to a partnership between the BFI, web design agency Green Jersey and e-commerce supplier Actinic.

The Filmstore at BFI Southbank, London SE1, opened last March offering a comprehensive range of film and television books, DVDs and other products.

The Filmstore website has been developed to offer customers the opportunity to buy BFI products easily online in a one-stop-shop - a facility that was not previously available.

The site was designed and built by web design agency Green Jersey, using the Actinic e-commerce platform.

BFI's specification called for a fresh, appealing design with its own identity, but complementing the BFI's own website.

It required the e-commerce facility to be interfaced with the electronic point of sale (EPOS) system in use in its retail store.

It also called for the implementation of a sophisticated discounting regime, and the extension of Actinic's product structure to accommodate BFI's sophisticated product definitions.

"The requirements were particularly complex," said Mark Fraser of Green Jersey.

"But the task was made a lot easier thanks to a flexible new architecture that Actinic introduced last year".

From a standing start for the project in early 2007, the site was completed, tested and launched by September 2007, including training BFI shop staff in the new systems.

"This has been a complex project involving connecting Actinic to a completely different EPOS system.

"Green Jersey immediately understood the technical issues, researching solutions, testing them thoroughly, and delivering them on schedule in a clear and user-friendly format," said the BFI's Web Editor Rebecca Willis.

"We are very pleased with the site which has been both successful and very reliable".

A series of popular special offers and BFI member discounts during the first few weeks of the launch helped web sales grow rapidly.

The BFI set a target for the website to deliver 20 per cent of total Filmstore sales - and achieved this in three months of launch.

During the Christmas period, sales ran at four to five times the previous weekly average.

A very successful offer of GBP5 off all BFI DVDs throughout January meant that sales in the New Year were significantly higher than they had been before the Christmas peak.

With 22 per cent of online sales coming from repeat visits, the future for the store is looking good.

while the majority of customers are in the UK, worldwide sales are also doing well, with strong interest from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and even Thailand.

BFI hopes soon to be able to offer its entire Filmstore stock online, rather than just its own product range, making thousands of specialist film and television titles available for sale all around the world.

Actinic CEO Chris Barling commented: "The BFI Filmstore site has been superbly implemented by Green Jersey and is a great example of how much can be achieved with an out-of-the-box e-commerce product.

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