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Chicago, IL — Gorilla Group, an award winning, full-service commerce solutions provider, has been named an official honoree for the 18th Annual Webby Awards in the Shopping category for work on BookPal, an industry-leading online seller of books to institutions and corporations.

The prestigious honor, presented to a select number of companies from a pool of nearly 12,000 submissions representing more than 60 countries and all 50 states, marks BookPal’s first Webby recognition and the fifth time in six years Gorilla has been acknowledged by the Webby Awards for excellence in website design and user experience.

“To be recognized in the highly competitive Shopping category by The Webby Awards is an exceptional honor for both Gorilla Group and BookPal,” said Ethan Smith, Creative Director at Gorilla. “There has been an overwhelming amount of discussion about the need to bring consumer-like experiences to B2B ecommerce, and our collaboration with BookPal has resulted in a site that perfectly exemplifies this imperative.”

Looking to increase customer acquisition and differentiate their brand to support rapid growth, BookPal partnered with Gorilla to craft a complete ecommerce solution, including full site redesign and development. The resulting site’s clean aesthetic, powerful search capabilities and dynamic pricing calculator have allowed BookPal to lift conversion rates and AOV 40.39 percent and 18.79 percent, respectively, just 90 days post-launch.

“Our vision for BookPal's new website was to provide our enterprise customers with an easy-to-use, simplified shopping experience. To have our site honored alongside well recognized consumer brands speaks to the implementation and design skills of the Gorilla team. We obviously could not be more excited about the impact the new site is making and its positive reception,” said Tony DiCostanzo, President at BookPal.

This most recent honor for Gorilla follows four previous Webby Awards presented for client site work in 2009, 2011 and 2013 and for Gorilla’s own corporate site in 2012. Five Webbys in the span of six years places Gorilla Group in the elite company of some of the world’s largest and most prestigious media companies and agencies and underscores a commitment to producing exceptional work for every client.

"Honorees like Gorilla and BookPal are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, Executive Director of The Webby Awards.

Organized by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the 18th Annual Webby Awards will take place in New York on Monday, May 19, 2014 and will be available on demand the morning of Tuesday, May 20.