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Company: CELL PACK SOLUTIONS LTD
Project: CPS BATTERIES RECHARGED WEBSITE
Dates: Jan 2007 to Apr 2007
How did the project start?
We already have a number of very successful ecommerce websites including www.cellpacksolutions.com. Feedback received from a customer survey led us to the conclusion that we needed some additional functionality to improve our interaction with our customers. We created a wish list of improvements and we also thought it would be a good opportunity to rename our main website to include our core product offering in the website name, something that helps in the all important Google ranking.
One of the aims of project was to create a new website whose backend admin section could be accessed from any computer in the UK without the need for expensive software.
What options did you consider?
We investigated various Off the Shelf commercially available ECOMMERCE shop software, but rejected them because of their cost and their inflexibility in being able to modify and integrate into our existing SAGE and Access Driven Products databases. We decided on using OPEN SOURCE software because of the greater flexibility and adaptability and the relatively low cost.
What help and expertise did you receive?
We used the services of a local web designer with expertise in using open source solutions and she worked closely with our own in house IT manager to carry out the necessary integration into our already proven systems.
Did you face any challenges or learn any lessons?
The integration between all the different software packages we used extensively did prove challenging. All our existing websites are fed from an Access Database and are also linked to SAGE for both stock management and sales order paperwork. Orders are received, paid for using Worldpay and orders are then emailed to our popbox where they are then imported into Sage where we allocate and produce the invoices. We operate a simple PICK PACK and POST system. We did not want to change the core functions we only wanted to improve them.
At times the compatibility issues did make us think we should have just stuck with the original system we had but we persevered and eventually solved the problems and have been able to include additional features that were available in the Open Source such as sending automatic emails at the point that orders moved from sales order to invoiced order and being able to choose very specific countries to allow orders to be received from. With our older system we did not allow export orders as we could not limit the countries of choice and we could not cope with the different carriage costs.
In the learning process we went through in developing the new site we were able to also improve the features in our existing portfolio of websites.
What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?
The internet has been at the heart of our success since our company was established, it would have been easier to stay with our original relatively successful format, but we created the new site to make administration simpler, to make it more accessible and to add more features that we felt would benefit our customers.
Overall we have increased our business by approx 30% over the last year and for the first time going over the £1 M mark, this is a direct result of both increased direct ecommerce sales and through the conversion of the additional leads generated for our industrial division.
What are your plans for the future?
We will continue to develop our websites ,we will look to adding more content in the form of video and audio files to make our site even more user friendly to our client base. We have been trialing a franchising type arrangement whereby we will create rebranded versions of our website , give them to selected partners around the UK , who will market them under their own name . It works as a drop ship arrangement, we will fulfill the orders from our warehouse in South Tyneside and take care of the admin, they concentrate on Marketing in their local area. This has been working reasonably well and we are looking to extend this trial in the coming weeks.
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