Allen Canning Site Designed for Comfortable Visits

Allen Canning Co. in Siloam Springs used a team of 14 employees to develop its Web site, www.allencanning.com. It launched August 2000, after the team spent six months tweaking its design concept to create a “homey” Internet presence.

A member of Allen’s information systems team told us the goal was to create a site that matches Allen’s product mix by incorporating the new “Welcome Home to Allens” slogan used on the home page. We liked that message but would have preferred that the company stick with its primary slogan, “We make a good plate great,” since it’s one of the strongest we’ve seen anywhere.

Apparently, there’s a marketing effort under way to meld the two ideas into one theme.

Last year the canned food processor hired an outside Web design firm to improve the site’s readability and loading speed, but Allen Canning declined to name the firm.

The site is truly informational and boasts an impressive e-commerce setup. It allows customers to buy products such as its Italian-cut green beans factory direct, a case of which would cost $12 plus shipping and handling.

Inside the “store” hyperlink, design labeling tells us IntelliMark IT Business Solutions designed Allen Canning’s e-commerce pages. We imagine this section must be an especially handy tool for commercial and institutional accounts or even private citizens who want to stock up on poke salet greens and hominy.

The “play room” section plays the University of Arkansas’ fight song on an audio loop and features links to a variety of national holiday sites. We thought that space would be better served for Allens with links to industry information or even sites related to Northwest Arkansas that might be used for employee recruitment.

Our team of reviewers didn’t really like the site’s cartoonish home tour motif. We realize it’s an attempt to spark interactivity with a casual feel. But in some places it’s confusing, and we believe the company would benefit more from features that promoted its rich history or helped build name recognition of its many brands.

The “Allens” script background ghosting is a little distracting as well.

But the recipes incorporating Allen Canning products are a good idea, and the site does evoke feelings of our mothers’ kitchens, which was the company’s goal.