Bernie's TVs, Appliances & More

http://www.bernies.com/

Until it's closing in early 2010, Bernie's was New England's largest independent retailer of TVs and appliances with over a dozen stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Bernie's carried top brand name TVs, appliances, and consumer electronics such as blu-ray players, computers, camcorders, cameras, and printers. In addition, Bernie's carried Serta Bedding, Ashley Furniture, Weber Grills, a wide variety of EnergyStar products, and much more. Ranked nationally as the 28th largest Appliance and 82nd largest Electronics retailer in the United States, you might have known them better by their slogan, "Can't Beat Bernie's!"

When Bernie's partnered with Tortus in 2008, they already had a website that was primarily used for highlighting their weekly flyer and presenting information about the company. Bernie's knew they were losing part of their customer base because they didn't have an in-depth catalog of their products and visitors could not purchase products online.

To begin the project, Tortus created an ecommerce website that was based on a product catalog of over 2,000 products. Each product page was updated daily and contained detailed information including specifications, prices, sale prices, warranties, images and recommended items. Bernie's customers now had a reason to visit the site because they could browse and purchase from a large selection of products - what a difference from their old brochure site with just a few flyers!

Because Bernie's was built on a foundation of service, customers found the same helpful and friendly customer service on the website as they did in stores. In addition to being able to email the service center at Bernie's, customers could also find all of the manuals, instructions and installation information for each product. Bernie's also included recommended accessories so customers could feel secure in the knowledge that they were getting the most information and best accessories to make sure their product was used to its fullest potential.

Bernies.com was the first online store in the New England area to offer the ability to schedule a delivery date before the customer completed a purchase, allowing the customer to pick a day that will best meet their needs and schedule. Customers could shop easily by brand, by category or by specialty store, they could even search within specific categories! The new website also gave customers the ability to apply online for the Bernie's card, and then use the card to complete the shopping process. All these enhancements made it easy for customers to shop and purchase from the new Bernies.com.

I want to thank you all for the effort that went into Bernies.com. I would have no hesitation calling on the Tortus team again to build a website for any business I was associated with. --Steve Murray, CIO, Bernie's

Bernie's did not want to alienate their loyal store customers, so shoppers could also find the locations of all 15 stores on the website - and wou could still see their weekly flyers! We also included the option to order online and pick-up in a store, which included the choice to pick up on the day that best matched the customer's schedule.

Bernie's and Tortus worked hard to design an appealing, functional website that fit the needs of any customer, and the site was highly successful. From ecommerce hosting, page speed optimization, an advanced product catalog, multiple integrations, and so much more, Tortus was pleased to service Bernie's web-based business and marketing needs.