Consumer Specialty Products

SILVER: Web Channel

Stewmac.com

Talk about a tight niche: Stewart-MacDonald sells everything you could think of to build and repair string instruments. It's not just violin knobs and guitar necks, but also books and videos on how to get the job done right.

WHY IT WON A SILVER AWARD: StewMac.com is a fast, clean, intuitive e-commerce site that offers the user clear branding and customer service attributes. The judges noted that Stewart-MacDonald understands its business and target market. It speaks to professionals as well as newbies, with short blocks of product detail copy that is easy for even the novice to understand.

But certain products show expanded content and instruction, which is quite useful to this audience. The company relays a strong customer service pledge throughout the site.

WHY IT DIDN'T WIN A GOLD AWARD: The site needs a more aggressive cross-sell and upsell functionality. “As it is now, I have to click on the ‘related items’ tab on the product page to see any suggested items,” said a judge. “Conversions and AOV would likely go up if these were more prominent.” — TP

Creative director: Tom Erlewine

Marketing director: Mark Hyatt

Webmaster: Mike Lindskold

Website designer: Summer Blevins

Search engine marketing: Kim Painley

Merchandiser: Jay Hostetler

Copywriter: Mike Watson

Photographer/illustrator: Suzanne Burkey