WIMTACH partners with Taltis Foods to revamp an E-commerce website

In the high days of the lock down provisions of the Covid-19 pandemic, it underscored what everyone already knew: companies who adapt to the online space thrive and the rest fall behind. It’s this reason that the team at Taltis Foods, a Toronto based retail business, decided to partner with WIMTACH-CEDA, on the enhancement of an E-commerce website.

Taltis Foods draws on Cameroonian cuisine for their flagship product Taltis Jollof Sauce. It’s also the inspiration behind their Hibiscus drinks. Despite the popularity for these products, their E-commerce website, which was originally developed with Shopify, faced limited visibility and a relatively modest digital footprint, impacting the business’s reach and customer engagement online. To address this challenge, the WIMTACH-CEDA research team implemented Search Engine Optimization strategies with varied website content optimization approaches including implementing product descriptions, and adding backend elements like meta tags and keywords, to improve search engine rankings.

CEO and Founder Gilles Tchianga was eager to work with the WIMTACH-CEDA team and Centennial College faculty and students on this project. He found the primary draw of the collaboration was having a student with expertise who could dedicate time and resources towards analyzing the website and then preparing a measured approach for improvements. Another feature of the partnership that was equally important to him was the ability to learn from the WIMTACH-CEDA team. As a Centennial College student tackled the visibility challenges of his website, Tchianga was able to gain insight into how to tackle these challenges himself and was advised on contemporary methods to adapt the website in preparation for future needs and business growth. So impressed with the work of the team, in the end, he saw this opportunity as a resource for talent mining as he considered hiring to fill vacancies.

Under the supervision of Centennial College faculty, Student Researcher Jeremiah Nwaobodo was tasked with developing a multistep approach to enhancing the website, consisting of Meta Tag Enhancement, Website Optimization for Load Speed, User Engagement Implementation through Blog Integration, as well as Tracking and Analytics Implementation. Nwaobodo performed keyword research to help Tchianga when preparing searchable terms for the website and used his knowledge of social media trends to optimize the website further. He also prepared a report with directives behind each step taken for future reference with details about the process of how to replicate results. Therefore, Tchianga was quite pleased with his work and since the original Taltis Foods website was developed by Tchianga, this partnership enabled him to reassess the steps he took in his development process to sort out the lingering concerns that were making it harder for his website to reach new audiences. “While they are working, they can train me to take over. They can show me how to do that … understanding what is happening is quite important for your own confidence about your business,” he said. “[Jeremiah] was really really good. He knew his stuff. The student was able to analyze our website completely and to actually pinpoint where there was some problem.”

Tchianga also appreciated the project development plan for the project which was designed for the entire team to meet in weekly meetings to discuss project development milestones and address issues in a dynamic and proactive process. While the meeting was organized by the WIMTACH-CEDA project management team and tracked by faculty members to enable Tchianga to continue with regular business operations, he was able to steer the development process of his vision for the website. “All that made the process … smooth,” he said. “And I really appreciate that.”

Although Tchianga is still measuring the effects of the new changes to the website, he is confident about the steps taken and as a result of the success of this project, he is pursuing another project collaboration with WIMTACH-CEDA which would be centered on the development of a mobile application. With the breadth of services provided including assistance with securing funding for this website enhancement project, Tchianga is happy with the results of the collaboration and he has been recommending WIMTACH to other business owners. “For a small business it is a great opportunity,” he said. “It’s basically like having a fresh and innovative mind … for a business it’s a huge plus.”

For further information, please send press inquiries to ptyagi@centennialcollege.ca