Work  /  Glenferrie Traders Association

Hundreds of traders nobody could browse.

The directory was the whole point of the site. You could only see it by searching for nothing. Everything else followed from that.

Visit the live site ↗
Client Glenferrie Traders Association, Hawthorn
Engagement Website rebuild & member directory
Year 2026 · Live
Disciplines UX · Web build · Directory · Data capture
The rebuilt Glenferrie Traders Association homepage: an aerial photograph of Glenferrie Road under the headline The Heart of Hawthorn, with a Browse the Directory button.
The rebuilt homepage at glenferrie.com.au. The directory is now the primary call to action.
01 / The situation

A trader association paying a premium for a platform that hid its main asset.

An expensive off-the-shelf product, doing the one thing it shouldn't.

Glenferrie Traders Association represents the businesses along one of Melbourne's busiest shopping strips. Its website ran on Brilliant Directories: expensive, rigid, and wrong for the job.

  • 286 listings nobody could browse. No category view. Visitors only saw traders after running a blank search.
  • An empty news section on a site meant to keep members informed.
  • A gallery that redirected to a public Google Drive. No permissions, no control.
  • No data capture, no CRM. No way to know who was visiting or enquiring.
  • Little reason to be a member beyond a listing nobody could find.
286
trader listings hidden behind a blank search
0
data capture or CRM in place
4
jobs the new site had to do well
02 / The approach

Start from what the committee already agreed on.

Editorial and warm, with the directory at its heart.

The committee already knew what it wanted: editorial, warm, directory front and centre. That agreement became the brief, and saved a discovery phase.

The rebuild moves the Association off Brilliant Directories entirely. Scope was set against four jobs: surface the traders, give members a reason to be listed, capture data the Association can act on, and look like the strip it represents.

03 / What was built

A directory that works like a directory, and a pipeline behind it.

The rebuild

  • A browsable directory for every listing. Category views, real navigation, findable without knowing what you're after.
  • Full migration off Brilliant Directories, and the platform fees with it.
  • Data capture wired to a CRM, so enquiries become a pipeline instead of vanishing.
  • A news section the Association can maintain itself.
  • A clear member offer, stated on the site itself.
The Glenferrie Road directory page: 374 traders in a browsable grid, with category filters for Eat & Drink, Groceries, Shopping and more.
The directory: browsable at last, one click from the homepage.
04 / The outcome

The directory is now the front door.

374 traders, one click away.

The rebuilt site is live at glenferrie.com.au. Every trader on the strip now sits in a directory you can browse, one click from the homepage, instead of behind a blank search box. The directory has grown from 286 listings to 374.

Behind it, enquiries and member interest land in a CRM the Association owns. The Brilliant Directories licence, and the constraints that came with it, are gone.

We went from a website that was difficult to navigate, almost impossible to update and offered very limited functionality, to a modern, engaging and user-friendly platform… I'd have no hesitation recommending him to other trader associations looking to strengthen their digital presence. Simon Osborne, Marketing Manager, Glenferrie Road Hawthorn Traders Association

Sound familiar?

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