Modernising the eCommerce experience for Watco customers in multiple countries

At 9xb, we love a challenge. When Watco, a UK based manufacturer of industrial floor coatings, repair materials and anti-slip products approached us to transition their site from the Umbraco platform, we jumped at the chance.

Traditionally a catalogue business, Watco needed a best in class eCommerce store which would provide improved UX and superior customer service at point of order. We set out to modernise the eCommerce experience for Watco customers in multiple countries.

Scoping requirements

Prior to implementing the new website, Watco identified the following customer pain points:

• Navigating through product ranges, categories and choice to understand which products are most relevant
• Understanding the influencing factors that affect choice and performance
• Making quantity calculations to achieve the best results
• Identifying ancillary products to support the best result
• Understanding how to apply the products, reinforcing the USP that it is a DIY product

In order to address these, the new site had to deliver:

• Fully responsive e-commerce serving both trade and DIY markets
• Differentiation between product ranges
• Payments with credit/debit cards and on account
• Content focused pages for specific sectors
• Multi-currency, multi-language, and scalability across territories
• Enhanced promotions covering many options inc volume discounts
• Cross sell / up sell functionality with product comparison

The solution

As well as delivering on the above, 9xb’s in-house developed eCommerce platform provided the following key functionality:

• Coverage calculator tool enabling customers to work out the best value combination of product packs to cover a specified area/volume
• Click & Collect allowing users to find their nearest collection point and choose to pick up their order
• Needs based upselling - eg “Looking for something harder wearing?” Try these...
• Integration with Navision for product, price and stock
• Algolia integration for intelligent search
• DotMailer integration for data capture
• Feefo product and company reviews/star ratings
• Instant chat providing on hand technical support
• Help and advice centre including product videos and application guides

Delivering on Watco's objectives

Due to the nature of Watco’s product range, combined with the heavy focus on educational content, the Watco project was extremely complex.

Despite this, their new website successfully delivers on the objectives, providing best in class eCommerce, improved UX, exceptional customer service at point of order, and clear market positioning of product ranges.

The Watco site has now been rolled out in multiple countries and languages, including France and the UK, with more to follow.

“9xb worked with us from very early in the project, helping to define our strategy and objectives, and taking the time to understand our products and data to ensure successful merchandising across sites. The new websites successfully deliver best in class eCommerce, improved UX, exceptional customer service at point of order, and clear market positioning of product ranges. The ability to roll out new sites quickly is key to growing the Watco brand.”

What’s your eCommerce challenge?

9xb is an eCommerce specialist, helping leading retailers overcome barriers to growth. Take a look at some of the complex eCommerce projects where we’ve excelled.