Norrona Sport AS sells its Norrona brand of cold-weather hiking jackets and other outdoor apparel and sports gear through merchants in more than a dozen countries throughout Europe. It also sells through Backcountry.com, the sole U.S.-based retailer listed on its web site. But now it’s also geared up to better sell directly to consumers in those same markets—and the rest of the world, says marketing director Bjorn Fjellstad.

Norrona launched in the first quarter of this year a redesigned retail e-commerce site at Norrona.com, which among other things features videos of live models demonstrating products. Clicking on an image of its women’s Trollveggen Gore-Tex Pro Jacket, “developed for all kinds of mountaineering,” for example, reveals a video in which a model turns to show all sides and demonstrates all of its pocket, sleeve and hood features. The same video is shown on a new mobile-optimized version of the site.

“A clear trend in the e-commerce space is the ability and importance of combining content and commerce to enhance the experience the customer has with our brand,” Fjellstad says. Norrona launched the redesigned web site and mobile site on technology from Sweden-based EPiServer AB, which provides a content management system integrated with e-commerce and mobile commerce technology.

“EPiServer’s platform puts us one step ahead of the game by allowing us to take advantage of this movement,” Fjellstad says. “Because of this, we’ve been able to enhance the online customer experience and build a solid platform to significantly increase sales through our web site.”

Among the redesigned site’s other advantages, he adds, are the ability to show more related products in cross-selling displays, a streamlined checkout process that has resulted in fewer abandoned shopping carts, an improved order management system, the ability to navigate the site by activities such as skiing or mountaineering, and a new Frequently Asked Questions section that has reduced the number of e-mails to customer service.

The new site lists shipping times for countries through Europe, for the U.S., and for the rest of the world. It also features a Find a Store section, which is still under development, that lets shoppers find physical and online stores across the more than 12 countries where retailers sell Norrona products.

Norrona is also planning to relaunch its B2B e-commerce site in 2015 after it migrates this year to a new enterprise resource planning system, including back-end accounting and inventory management applications, according to e-commerce manager Trod Høitomt.

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