A Look at Peterson Farms’ Web Site

Decatur

www.petersonfarms.com

Peterson Farms Inc.’s Web presence is designed to be mostly an informative site that might drive limited e-commerce. It took awhile to verify that conclusion with the company, however, because our e-mail inquiries were never returned.

What if we had been an overseas buyer looking to purchase some breeder hens?

The site was designed in the fall of 1997 by Marsha Linn Scherer, who was in-house designer at the time. Although Scherer is now an independent Web master in Maryland, she said she upgraded the site in May.

Two of our reviewers liked the colorful look of www.petersonfarms.com, which Scherer said contains more than 500 pages. We thought the giant rooster and hen on the home page was an especially nice touch.

We also liked the historical section and time line, although Peterson’s photographs would not load to even a fairly sophisticated set-up. The company deserves credit for honoring Ramakrishna Reddy, the longtime vice president of research and development, who died in 1996. That Peterson would use valuable Web space to pay tribute to a former employee says something positive about the kind of company it is.

But the lack of any real online business initiative shows that Peterson has not yet developed an e-commerce strategy. The international breeder sales page makes it obvious that the company hopes its site will drive business to its sales department’s telephones and e-mail addresses.

At some point, however, we would like customers to have the ability to place and pay for orders with the click of a mouse. In coming years, the market will demand as much.

One of our technicians said that from a technical standpoint, the site is “decent.” He said that the graphics are grainy at best and that it looks as if they need to be compressed better before posting.

Another technically astute reviewer with little interest in agriculture said that for the average surfer, www.petersonfarms.com “offers nothing.” She also pointed out that a number of pages would not load. In particular, it was disappointing that a list of job opportunities at the company yielded only URL error messages.

Peterson Farms must have a nice company gym, because it’s touted in several places on the site. How about adding an interactive section that targets students with an interest in agriculture? That would be an even greater recruitment tool.