Before:
Unicol are the leading manufacturers of audio visual mounts and brackets in the UK. The business started over 50 years ago. They have a vast number of products – 97K +. They had reached the point with such a large product range their ecommerce site was not able to deliver in terms of flexibility and high online sales. Online sales were pretty low and there were numerous abandon baskets so something had to be done. The key issues that needed addressing were:
- Using their existing backend system.
- Not being able to edit all the product content and images across 97K products.
- Losing SEO rankings rather than increasing SEO value with new content.
- Little analysis of analytics to drive new content and landing pages.
- A re-fresh of the design in line with key ecommerce websites.
- Making sure the site was mobile friendly.
- A reduction in the number of the steps in the buying process.
- An examination of the UX to speed up the whole purchasing process from placing an order to payment.
The Solution:
A new, robust ecommerce framework was built with upgraded flexibility and functionality to easily load content on each product. All 97K products could now be loaded using a new Content Management System through database integration. The process was automated using a new, high level system to reduce admin time.
The flexible approach adopted by Unicol now facilitates them to create solutions in a better, improved and defined manner. This is especially important when managing 97K products, specifications and kits.
The volume of products, kits and manufacturing models meant the challenge of allowing anyvisitor to select multiply parts correctly was quite challenging. This was solved by working very closely with the client to create a significant number of scenario’s which allowed us to alter the mix of products available, moving the selection logic from the user to our code allowing the system to make the difficult decisions.
After:
The new system and website is now up and running and Unicol have seen a significant increase in sales. The staff are pleased as they can now maintain and update products with greater ease and as a consequence the site is now kept up to date. Customers are finding it is easier to go online to place orders therefore they have seen a reduction in telephone orders.
Benefits:
The key features of the new site were:
- Using the exiting backend system for the 97K products to seamlessly manage order choices, manufacture orders and fulfill the orders.
- The new site had the additional option to show product ranges.
- The site went a step further and gave the option to show product ranges and kits.
- When choosing a kit there is now a ‘swap’ option to choose accessories for 100K products in the centre of the page.
- Intelligent internal site kit, a search that searches pages, kits and parts.
- Blog to keep customers up to date with latest news.
- And much much more.
Testimonial:
“I have known Ed for over 3 years now and have always found him very easy to deal with, very courteous and keen to work on a one to one basis.
Technically Ed and his team are very strong with a wealth of experience but can be dealt with on a non-technical level if required, secondly I have always been pleased with the consistent support even once the project was signed off. It is so common these days to find that once the cheque has been cashed the doors close, this is not being the case with OFEC.
I can highly recommend OFEC and stand by this recommendation by our continued use of his services for the foreseeable future.”
Ricky Clark, IT Manager (Unicol Engineering Oxford)
After some mounts or just want to see the website check it out here.
Work originally done in partnership with XIST2