Arcadia Group

Visit arcadiagroup.co.uk

The Arcadia Group, owned by Sir Philip Green, is one of the UK’s largest retail chains and each of the Arcadia brands has seen a massive increase in online sales in the last three years that has rapidly exceeded £100m a year.

Each of the Arcadia online stores is built on IBM Websphere Commerce Server and as Ecommerce Production Manager for Arcadia, I lead the development of the front end and the team of developers who develop and support it.

Aside from managing this team I have also lead the development of the XHTML, CSS and JavaScript (jQuery) framework of the store, as well as the bespoke CMS built using Java, Adobe Flex and Velocity technologies that provides each brand team with complete control of their store’s content within a growing set of flexible design templates.

The same core XHTML markup and JavaScript library is used across all brands and the diversity of design and content is testament to the flexibility of the CMS and the CSS presentation layer that my team and I maintain. I also work closely with several commercial partners to ensure the site is accessible (Fortune Cookie), optimised for natural search (BigMouth Media and Tamar), and look great (Poke, Fortune Cookie, CreateThe Group, Pod1).

Skills and services

  • Leadership of front end development
  • Line management of permanent and contract front end developers
  • Project management of key projects alongside daily production
  • Training and documentation
  • Adobe Flex
  • ActionScript 3.0
  • XHTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript library development (based on jQuery)
  • Apache Velocity
  • Search Engine Optimisation
  • Adobe Flash
  • Accessibility
  • Usability

Arcadia Group online stores