Montreal, July 3rd, 2008 - multiple-media.com announced today that it had provided Renaud Bray, Quebec’s major bookstore network, a blog software solution and the necessary technical guidance to help further its business relations with its institutional clientele. The initiative was mainly based on the “Blogue des collectivités”–the Communities’ Blog–which was set up from May 24 to July 4 in order to establish a direct contact with institutional buyers and gain a better understanding of the profile and preferences of a market segment of Quebec school boards, communities, and libraries.

The objective was to establish a dialogue with the institutional users of Renaud-Bray’s Web site in order to help overcome potential resistance to the revamped site, scheduled for autumn 2008. The idea of inviting customers to communicate with their supplier in an informal setting through a blog was viewed as a solution of choice. The participation was considered to be very good, as the blog yielded many comments about the quality of the customer service, about the current site, and even about the aesthetics of the future site. Thus not only did Renaud-Bray probe a specific market, it also tested a number of ideas and learned about users’ preferences and expectations–some of them technically very advanced–in terms of functionalities and research features.

 “Our partnership with multiple-media.com has allowed to us to launch the first blog in the book sector, declared Blaise Renaud. This innovative approach in the Web 2.0 spirit gives us a significant edge on our competitors. We have been able to establish a frank and open communication with our customers for the benefit of both parties, to find out about their impressions and to gather feedback, all of which reinforces the quality of our business relations.”

 “A blog was well suited to accompany the revamping of Renaud-Bray’s Web site, insofar as the process was well planned, well supervised, and well communicated”, said Renato Cudicio, the president of multiple-media.com. “As one comment noted, this is a bold initiative, which requires a very open mind. By involving target customers in the development process, we have acquired a better understanding of their expectations, thus increasing Renaud-Bray’s chances of creating a site that is adapted to their needs, and therefore more easily achieves user adoption.”

Renaud-Bray chose MMCM-Blog, multiple-media.com’s sophisticated proprietary solution, on one hand because of the Montreal agency’s expertise and on the other because of the appeal of its solution, which is at once easy to use, powerful, and flexible, providing, among other things, a high level of safety, i.e. in terms of content and comment access and management.

About Renaud-Bray
Established in 1965, Renaud-Bray (www.renaud-bray.com) has rapidly grown to become America’s major francophone bookstore network. Besides carrying some 80,000 titles, the 24 Renaud-Bray stores offer an important selection of compact disks and DVDs, as well as a broad range of gifts, games, toys, and stationery items.