Innovative new technologies feature in a major redesign and upgrade of JBS Australia’s website, which goes live for the first time today.

The website is designed to target three main user audiences – consumers and wholesale customers of JBS Australia’s branded beef and lamb products; slaughter and feeder livestock suppliers; and potential employees considering JBS as part of their career plans.

“It was time for a website upgrade, especially as the company continues to grow and expand its brand offer and product range,” JBS marketing executive Brad De Luca said in a briefing this morning.

The new website has a modern, contemporary look, and includes a series of novel features as part of a process seeking to engage more actively with other stakeholders along the supply chain from paddock to plate.

Each of JBS’s commercial brand programs will be featured on dedicated website pages, highlighting the attributes and stories behind each brand. Some will then link-off to specific brand websites, such as Great Southern Beef and Lamb, or Aberdeen Black, JBS’s EU specific brand.

One of the features of the website’s customer page will be a “where to buy our product” function, using Google Maps. The facility will help wholesale customers like restaurants or butchers, importers/distributors, or even consumers, to access JBS beef and lamb products.

In the case of consumers, the function will identify nearby food service or retail outlets stocking JBS branded products. While that brand access database is somewhat limited at this early launch phase, it will grow over time.

From there the consumer can share the information via the web with a friend, allowing JBS to establish a channel of communication with engaged beef consumers.

Similarly, Google Maps functions will be used to provide potential livestock suppliers to JBS with the nearest JBS livestock buying team members, for slaughter or feeder cattle, simply by supplying a postcode.

Each JBS buyer’s profile will include a photo and background details, because “maintaining those personal relationships between buyer and seller is important to us,” Mr De Luca said.

“Real people work for JBS, and we want to communicate that, at a personal level, via the website.” 

Another new important search feature is an international market access tool, enabling prospective livestock suppliers to conduct a search to determine which plants have access to which markets around the world, and market access requirements for each, in areas such as HGP use.

“The new website will allow us to better communicate our position in the market and our product offering to each of our stakeholders, both internally and externally,” Mr De Luca said.

JBS was also determined to ensure that the website remained current, and up-to-date.

“The site will act as out central node of communication. For example, JBS Australia chief executive officer Brent Eastwood will file a regular blog on topical industry and company developments,” he said.

The website also profiles each of the company's processing and lotfeeding facilities across Eastern Australia, and highlights the importance of each of the businesses to the local communities in which they operate.

• Readers can access JBS Australia’s new website here, or click on the image below to get an impression of the new website's home page.