When Audio Advice, a 40-year-old Raleigh company specializing in high end audio and home theatre equipment decided to go online, it proved two things.

First, you don’t have to leave the Research Triangle to create a top of the line eCommerce site and second, you don’t have to be a new company to be digitally innovative.

“We want Audio Advice online to be exhibit A in what you can accomplish in the local technology ecosystem,” General Manager of its online division Jonathan Stephens tells WRAL Techwire.

“Our goal was to create a virtual World Class Showroom. As we surveyed the competitive landscape we found the same thing over and over — generic eCommerce sites that treat consumer electronics like commodities, capture demand instead of creating it, and value customers purely as numbers.

“It wasn’t until we went outside of our space that we began to really feel inspired. Drawing inspiration from top internet brands like Warby Parker, Indochino, Bonobos and others, we were able to crystallize our vision for a best in class eCommerce site in the consumer electronics category,” he explained in an email.

The company has brick and mortar showrooms on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh and in Charlotte.

A simulating experience

“We put a lot into simulating the showroom we’re famous for and integrating content into the eCommerce experience,” People all over the world know who we are when it comes to this equipment,” said Nolan Ether, director of Marketing Audio Advice. The company has brick and mortar showrooms on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh and Charlotte.

It asks visitors six questions, establishing enough data and a “sound profile” to make a product recommendation.

“Nothing else like the site exits in the industry right now,” Ether says.

The company has only started marketing the site. The marketing effort, Ether says, “Is all digital. If I can’t measure it, I don’t do it.”

The company makes it plain it had lots of help constructing the site with local talent. Its partners include:

  • Netsertive – (Morrisville) Audio Advice leverages Netsertive’s advanced web data algorithms to drive online searches and turn them into leads, and to drive local traffic to the Raleigh and Charlotte showrooms.
  • Kadro Solutions – (Raleigh) Magento eCommerce platform System Integrator (SI) and development resource that helped bring the website to life.
  • Windsor Circle – (Durham) Developers of a retention marketing platform designed to keep and re-engage our customers.
  • NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic – (Raleigh) Worked with NCSU student teams from the clinic for marketing research and competitive analysis.
  • Addshoppers – (Charlotte) Specialists in Social sharing, Social contests, and Behavioral Analytics.