Background
Back in 2015, our team were approached by Engweld to completely redesign their businesses website. Engweld is one of the UK’s largest distributors of welding equipment, welding supplies and consumables. Prior to this, Engweld’s website had been very trade user and branch store focused, and the company wanted to adapt this so that it would appeal more towards direct customer trade.
In this case study we will explore how our web team developed the brand-new ecommerce website for Engweld, and how we have continued to maintain and update the platform since this initial development.
Aims & Objectives
Back in 2015, our development team met with Engweld to discuss the overall aims and objectives for this project. Our team engaged with the Engweld team in a series of inter-departmental meetings to develop a complete understanding of the requirements of each part of the business.
After our initial discussions, it was identified that the business needed to completely re-design their ageing website and develop a brand-new ecommerce platform which would fully integrate with the company’s sales order processing system. Furthermore, the new website would need to appeal to three types of customers including trade with accounts, retailers, and cash customers. Engweld also wanted our team to help redesign their website so that website navigation would be streamlined and simplified for users.
Research
With the aims and objectives set, our team began to conduct research to help select the best platform for developing the brand-new website. Our team also conducted research investigating similar ecommerce websites from businesses operating within the same industry as Engweld.
After much consideration, our team concluded that the most effective approach would be to produce the new ecommerce website using the Laravel framework. Using this platform would allow our team to develop a secure and powerful ecommerce platform which would feature a variety of additional website plug-ins.
Initial Development
For Engweld’s new website our team used the Laravel framework to design and build the platform for the website and the ecommerce checkout. As part of the development process, our team performed an audit, allowing us to streamline many of the unnecessary webpages from the old website, and improve the overall user navigation journey.
For the ecommerce platform, our team created a custom checkout which allowed Opayo (formerly SagePay) and PayPal to be used as payment options. Furthermore, our graphic design team at Eon Visual Media were able to utilise creative design to help created a fresh, modern, and visually appealing website.
Plug-ins
In addition to using the Laravel framework, our team also utilised a variety of additional plug-ins and software allowing Engweld’s new website to incorporate a variety of additional features and benefits.
Feefo
Feefo is an independent reviews and insight platform. By incorporating this tool, this allowed Engweld to build relationships with its customers and improve its brand reputation.
PureClarity
PureClarity is an innovative ecommerce personalisation software solution which utilises AI to deliver personalised content. This tool allowed Engweld’s customers to view relevant products, frequently bought together, and other upsell opportunities.
Google Analytics
Whilst Engweld’s previous website utilised Google Analytics, our team modified this so that the company could now collect financial and sales information and generate reports for the new ecommerce website.
Ongoing Maintenance
After completing the design of the new website, this was launched by Engweld in June 2016. Since the launch of the new website, our team have continued to have regular discussions with Engweld and review the performance of their website. By regularly maintaining the website, this has allowed our team to improve the overall speed and performance of the website.
Furthermore, our team have added a range of new features to the website such as email integration & abandoned cart recovery (Bronto) and Google customer reviews.
Outcome
Since the development of the brand-new website, this has been incredibly well received by Engweld, and our team have been highly praised for creating an effective and powerful ecommerce platform.
Since the deployment of the new website, there have been over 800,000 new users, over 3 million sessions and over 5 million page views. Furthermore, Engweld have seen a dramatic increase in their overall company sales as the new website has generated over 20,000 transactions.
You can see more of Engweld’s website statistics in our animation here!
Summary
At Eon Visual Media, our friendly team of creators can collaborate with you to develop a professional and high-quality website to help promote your brand, products, and services. With our expertise, our team can help to create a powerful and secure website helping your business stand out from the competition. Furthermore, our friendly team are experts in developing ecommerce platforms, E-learning hubs, and mobile optimised websites to help promote your brand, products, and services.
Want to find out more? Drop us a message or email us at hello@eon-media.com and let’s get creative!
"The Eon team have been fundamental to the development and ever evolving Engweld ecommerce website, helping us to grow traffic, conversions and sales through this platform. Nathan, Mike & Vlad have been the key web developers we’ve worked over the last 2-3 years with, and they’ve been more of an extension of our digital marketing team, giving regular input and guidance to help improve and develop our Engweld website further."
Richard Moss - Web Development Manager, Engweld Ltd