Marker Seven brings Rich Design to Rich Chocolate

Chocolate is on the Web in a whole new way, thanks to San Francisco Web development company Marker Seven and their new site for chocolate local Ghirardelli. More than just a site to buy product online, Marker Seven created a robust online presence that reflects Ghirardelli’s position in the marketplace as the chocolate expert that creates moments of timeless pleasure, and allows site visitors to do more than fantasize over chocolate covered possibilities.

Chocolate is an experience of the senses, which creates a difficulty in its online marketing. Marker Seven took this challenge to heart and created a site that effectively bridges the impersonal Web and the personal experience of enjoying chocolate by being visually rich and fulfilling.

This effort ensured that Ghirardelli’s Web site exceeded all immediate expectations and would serve as the foundation for its long-term Web related goals. Ghirardelli had many clearly identified goals for their new Web site which were met, with features including:

• Project an image equal to their premium, high quality chocolates
• Provide up-to-date product information to consumers
• Create a robust Baking section
• Improve customer service with easy-to-find contact information
• Create a site that could be easily maintained and updated by their internal departments

Marker Seven took concerted effort to accommodate the ever-expanding product line and consumer base while projecting an online image that equals Ghirardelli’s high quality, premium products. The easy-to-use navigation and opulent colors and fonts make the site more modern and engaging from a consumer standpoint. This site was all custom development, built in ASP.Net with an MS SQL database.

Marker Seven created a dynamic ‘Bake With Us’ section with many new features including appetite appealing pictures, delectable Recipes, a Product Locator, and Shopping Lists. Recipes are a great way to engage users and draw new customers.

Bake With Us: The new Recipe area offers many features including different ways to print, save, modify and scale to size of servings. Users can even generate a ready-to-go to the grocery store shopping list based on selected recipes and servings. Additionally, the Products area is comprehensive enough that a consumer can search for a specific chocolate bar and find the nearest purchase location that has that product in stock (updated daily).

Marker Seven developed a user-friendly site with an administrative interface that makes it easy for Ghirardelli to make edits; keeping information fresh and accurate is important and empowering to clients. Marker Seven feels it is important for functional departments within a company to feel a sense of control and independence. The new architecture allows Ghirardelli to maintain and update much of the information on their own.

Marker Seven helped orchestrate the type of site that Ghirardelli needed to complement their premium brand and will continue this work in Phase II of the Web site.

Watch for the launch of www.SavorChocolate.com in spring 2007, an entertaining site on planning chocolate tasting parties and more.

Founded in 1852, Ghirardelli has the richest heritage of any American chocolate company and continues to honor its heritage to this day. It is one of the few companies in America that controls the entire chocolate manufacturing process, from cocoa bean to finished product. Ghirardelli’s premium, slow melting chocolates embody the same sophisticated and intensely rich elements of the City it’s synonymous with — San Francisco. Those same elements that began with confections in San Francisco are now represented in beverages and baking products distributed throughout the United States.

About Marker Seven
Marker Seven is a premier provider of Web-based solutions designed to maximize business sales and communication efforts. Headquartered in San Francisco and founded in 2000, its skilled, cross-disciplinary team tackles every facet of Web development with a common bond and vision - to deliver value, high-quality work, and exceptional service. Marker Seven's professional team of business strategists, designers, and technical experts deliver solutions tailored to each client. Proven ability to understand client's business issues and technical needs allow its team to hit the ground running, take ownership and fully manage every project. Marker Seven remains focused on and dedicated to each project, delivering a polished look with clarity and consistency. Whatever the initiative, Marker Seven implements and delivers success.