Iced Graphics Launch New Exciting Website for Leading North West Engineering Company

Chorley, United Kingdom, May 29, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Unique Project Requirements

Tom Parker Ltd are a national family-run Pneumatic and Hydraulic distribution company, who have had an online presence for almost ten years but felt for a long time that their website was old-fashioned and falling far behind their competition. The site wasn’t ranking well naturally, wasn’t responsive and wasn’t easy for customers to navigate. It had a very basic CMS back-end system which meant sales analysis and reporting capabilities were limited. The site was essentially an online version of the companies 1000+ page product catalogue but with more technical information, larger images and relevant literature to assist resellers and end users when choosing the correct product for their particular application. The majority of information regarding Tom Parker Ltd’s impressive 30,000+ product range had to be input manually, which was not an efficient use of their Marketing and Design teams time and took many months to complete. Tom Parker Ltd are also the owners of the PARKAIR® national resale distribution network, which has almost 60 companies around the UK, who also distribute their products but with their own prices and to their own customer base. The old system meant that the sites were simply a clone of the main website and the resellers had to sell the exact same product line as one another, with a discount off the main list price. Due to the similarity between the sites, it meant they ranked extremely poorly on search engines and didn’t allow them to sell any of their own product lines or promote their own unique selling points.

Innovative. Creative. Eye-catching
Iced already have a longstanding relationship with Tom Parker Ltd; producing their PARKAIR® hub group website, interactive online catalogue, producing and providing their emarketing software, producing HTML email templates and many other creative projects including catalogue and literature cover design and production of their corporate video. They were invited to pitch for the project along with many other local and national web agencies but won the job as most companies were offering an off-the-shelf package such as Magento. Due to the very long wish-list of requirements from the Sales, Marketing and Purchasing team at Tom Parker Ltd and the fact the website had to sync with their catalogue management system, provided by Matrix, Tom Parker Ltd were keen to have a new website built specifically for them, as this also lessened the chance of their competitors copying the many unique and improved user functions.

Modern. Responsive. User Friendly
The new bespoke ecommerce website and online e-catalogue has been designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly experience. With much improved navigation and functionality throughout, it allows customers to access detailed product information and necessary technical certification, quickly and easily purchase and place repeat orders, pay by card or with a pre-arranged account, check stock levels, bulk buy, order by csv upload, live search by product code or category, flexible unit costing, an address book and request plain wrapping for direct to customer drop shipping, live customer chat, live stock & profit reporting and one click reseller direct ordering. The site includes extensive product information to help customers understand Tom Parker Ltd’s complete range of Pneumatic & Hydraulic parts. Created with the user experience firmly in mind, the ecommerce website has been designed using the latest responsive technology, so that the site (and resale partner sites) are compatible with today’s array of browsers. Over 65% of searches are now from mobile devices, whether on a phone, smart TV, tablet or computer. This meant that they were missing out on valuable leads by not being mobile friendly and this was negatively affecting them on search engines. Not only has the website had a new bespoke front end but the back end Content Management System has been reconfigured too. Due to previous limitations, Iced has rebuilt the system from scratch so that the ecommerce now talks to Tom Parker Ltd’s Matrix catalogue system, which means that as soon as the product catalogue is completed on Matrix, a script can be written to instantly update the website with all new products and any amends or changes made. The new site also links into their sales and stock management system ensuring prices and stock levels are always up-to-date. In addition, all reseller sites are now able to list, manage and sell their own product ranges whilst still retaining the 30,000+ products included in their main catalogue. On the Tom Parker website, visitors can also stay informed with the latest news direct from the company, the blog section features the latest announcements, product notifications, launches & updates and job opportunities. Furthermore, the new website allows users to share products and pages that interest them with others across Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Most importantly though, the site has already seen an increase in sales with an average of 8%. There has also been a 15% increase in page views & average session duration and a 12% reduction in bounce rate and Iced will now be looking in detail at their Search Engine Optimisation to maximise their return on investment.