Blix Interactive - Established 2001

Just because you don't process sales or drive lead generation through your website, doesn't mean that digital marketing is not for your business. As well as being used to drive actions online, digital channels can be used to effectively drive offline actions such as footfall or in-store sales. 

Blix has come a long way since it was founded in 2001, evolving into the digitally focused marketing agency it is today. We provide innovative web design and development, digital marketing and exceptional service to an ever-growing international customer base.

Recently I was required to refresh a website that I developed around two years ago for one of our clients. Like many of our sites this was developed upon our favourite content management system, Umbraco. The Umbraco platform is continually evolving and has gone through a significant number of iterations over the last few years, some good, some not so good. 

I've developed sites in pretty much every stable release over the past three years, including the short lived Umbraco 5, however it's rare that I've needed to undertake an Umbraco upgrade. 

There's no denying that consumer migration from the high street to the web browser has been significant, a trend that is, for the most part irreversible. 

Consumer habits and expectations have changed significantly across the UK and CI, not just as a result of technology and innovation in digital retail but also because modern life affords little time for traditional 'retail therapy.'

Those two facts alone highlight the importance of being part of the customer consideration process as early as possible, and offering access and increased convenience through one's online services.

Add to this the ever-increasing use of mobile for search, store locators, and payments, and there is an obvious need for traditional retail businesses to think about how to best join up online and offline channels.

Let's begin with the perceived problem: 

This year has flown by faster than any I've know before it and as my body slowly recovers from yet another evening of seasonal over-indulgence it occurs to me that Team Blix has done quite a bit this year of which I'm immensely proud.

Although most people wouldn't know it…

You see, as many of those who know us will confirm, we're quite a quiet bunch at Blix HQ and it rarely occurs to us to shout about what we've done or achieved.  

So, as much as it doesn't come naturally I'm going to review 2013 and who knows, I may even be tempted to shout about it too…