UK: With more business moving online, refrigeration wholesaler Beijer Ref has completed the roll out of new e-commerce websites across its Dean & Wood, HRP and RW websites in the UK.
The group’s associated company in Ireland, DWG, is expected to have its new e-commerce site up and running in July.
While the changes come as the COVID-19 crisis drives a lot of business online, Beijer Ref UK innovation & marketing director Howard Noble reveals that the company has been working on the designs for some time. “Developing the PIM (Product Information Management) system with our colleagues in Europe and choosing a platform takes time. The launch happens to coincide with the current situation.”
HRP’s new website went live just before the lockdown, with Dean & Wood following early this month. RW’s website went live last week.
“We think that the use of e-commerce for wholesalers in our trade has been held back because the websites haven’t been fully functioning, and people get easily put off by part completed sites. Hopefully the design makes it friendly and the fact its enriched with data will make it useful. We’ve also tried not to over complicate the content, not an easy task in itself.”
Commenting on the new Dean & Wood e-commerce site, Howard Noble said: “The design of the home page is unique in our trade and has adopted product tiles that take you straight to the product pages. This makes the site faster to navigate without having to scroll past adverts.
“The product pages have been completely re-designed, and now show availability by branch for each product in a very easy to use visual format. We’ve also worked hard to enrich the data held on the site. So many e-commerce solutions use stock photos with a price and a brief description. We’ve worked hard to populate products with supporting documentation offering technical data, sales literature and manuals. The site also offers a compare function, ideal when looking at compressor alternatives, for example.”
Customers are able to set favourite products for repeat orders, set delivery addresses for customer sites or offices and review past orders. Customers can also choose to enable their staff to either; place orders online immediately, or, have their orders authorised before the order is finally processed.
