SPAR UK & NI has announced Mentor Digital’s appointment as its new digital agency partner.

Following a competitive tender process Bristol-based Mentor Digital was chosen as the winning bidder to design and develop the new SPAR UK & NI corporate websites, and to deliver ongoing creative, technical, and digital marketing solutions to help deliver on SPAR’s digital strategy.

SPAR is the world’s largest retail food chain and has around 2,600 stores in the UK. Mentor Digital will partner with SPAR to build brand new websites for SPAR UK & Northern Ireland; to develop the digital application of the SPAR brand; and to provide SEO and digital marketing support.

Website technology is moving fast, and customers expect high quality, super-fast experiences across all devices. Keeping users engaged with retail brands’ online offerings and remaining cutting edge and relevant is an ongoing challenge.

SPAR is in an excellent position having both ‘clicks and bricks’ through their stores and existing online presence, and Mentor Digital will work to provide modern web applications delivering on SPAR’s digital strategy that will focus on community and health and well-being.

Mentor’s managing director Holland Risley said: “We are absolutely delighted to be adding SPAR to our client portfolio and it really feels like we are levelling up as an agency taking on clients of this calibre.

“I think this really reflects the high quality of the work that we have been producing in recent years, along with the recent high profile awards that we have won. The design work is already looking really exciting, we are focusing on bringing depth and quality to the sites by using micro UX, emotive design and parallax effects and we are really looking forward to launching the new look SPAR websites later this year.” 

SPAR shops are central to communities across the UK, and the new websites will support local communities by nurturing neighbourhoods, creating community hubs, and promoting health and wellbeing campaigns, as well as showcasing special offers and driving footfall to stores.

SPAR & Mentor Digital are carrying out an in-depth process of stakeholder engagement, user research, design, and prototyping. Mentor Digital will create full mobile responsive prototypes as part of the project process to allow for the sites to be fully user tested using on mobile devices and desktops. Mentor’s UX testing team will carry out mobile device guerrilla testing with specialist cameras for mobile devices and desktop UX testing, with eye tracking systems, to ensure that all user journeys are intuitive and clear.

The new SPAR websites will be developed using the open-source Umbraco CMS platform, which provides highly secure, enterprise level, content management experiences with no ongoing licenses. Mentor Digital is an Umbraco Gold Partner and has implemented Umbraco CMS for many NHS Trusts and CCGs along with a wide range of B2B and B2C clients. The agency has won awards at the prestigious Umbraco awards in 2020 and 2021.

To see more examples of the work Mentor Digital produces you can visit the Mentor Digital website here. To find out more about SPAR click here. 

photo: L-R Holland Risley, MD, and Rob MacNeill, creative director of Mentor Digital