B2B Ecommerce
Integration
International Functionality
https://www.widdop.co.uk/
The Client
Founded in Yorkshire in 1883, Widdop & Co. has almost 140 years of heritage in the home and giftware industry and has established itself as one of the UK’s leading wholesale gift suppliers.
Beginning life as a manufacturer and retailer of fine clocks and jewellery from a small shop in Brighouse, the business remains family-run today, with the fifth generation continuing to build on the company’s heritage of innovation, design and customer service.
Today, Widdop & Co. supplies more than 3,500 independent retailers across the UK and Ireland, alongside major national accounts and customers in more than 75 countries worldwide. Its extensive portfolio encompasses more than 13,000 products across 30+ UK-designed brands, spanning homeware, photo frames, clocks, collectables, seasonal products and gifts for every occasion.
More than 13,000 products
30+ UK-designed brands, spanning homeware, photo frames, clocks, collectables, seasonal products and gifts for every occasion.
Integration
Any new ecommerce platform therefore needed to integrate seamlessly with a custom ERP environment while presenting customers with a fast, intuitive and highly effective online buying experience.
AI Solutions
A powerful third-party Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution to help customers find relevant products more quickly while enabling Widdop to surface appropriate products and ranges throughout the buying journey.
How PureNet Helped
The Challenge
Widdop already had an established B2B ecommerce operation, but its existing platform was approaching end of life and was no longer capable of supporting the company’s ambitious plans for growth.
At the heart of Widdop’s operation was a highly bespoke and complex back-office system managing virtually every aspect of the business, including customer accounts, ordering, fulfilment, delivery and complex customer-specific pricing. Any new ecommerce platform therefore needed to integrate seamlessly with this custom ERP environment while presenting customers with a fast, intuitive and highly effective online buying experience.
With thousands of products, multiple brands and ranges, frequent new product launches and a diverse customer base ranging from independent retailers to national accounts and international customers, the new platform also needed to make a substantial product catalogue easy to navigate and merchandise.
Crucially, Widdop wanted ecommerce to become more than simply an online ordering channel. The new platform needed to provide the business with powerful promotional and merchandising capabilities, helping increase order values, encourage customers to explore the wider product range and support Widdop’s ongoing sales and marketing activity.
.NET WebPOS
What We Did
PureNet began the project with an in-depth Discovery phase, working closely with Widdop to understand its existing processes, customer journeys and commercial requirements.
Particular attention was given to mapping the integrations between ecommerce and Widdop’s bespoke back-office environment. This ensured the new platform could operate as an integral part of the wider business rather than as a standalone ecommerce system.
Following Discovery, PureNet designed and developed a bespoke B2B ecommerce solution using its custom .NET WebPOS framework.
The platform incorporated sophisticated promotional functionality designed around the way Widdop sells to its trade customers. Intelligent on-site ‘nudges’ could encourage buyers to add additional products to their basket to unlock greater savings, promotional offers or price breaks – helping customers achieve better value while providing Widdop with opportunities to increase average order values.
With such a large and diverse catalogue, product discovery was another important consideration. PureNet integrated a powerful third-party Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution to enhance site search and merchandising. This helped customers find relevant products more quickly while enabling Widdop to surface appropriate products and ranges throughout the buying journey.
The result combined the flexibility of a bespoke B2B ecommerce solution with deep integration into Widdop’s existing business systems, creating an online platform capable of supporting both the complexity of its operation and its plans for continued growth.
How PureNet Helped
The Outcomes
The new ecommerce platform transformed Widdop & Co.’s approach to digital commerce, establishing the website as a central part of its sales operation rather than simply an additional ordering channel.
By enabling customers to research products, access relevant pricing and promotions and place orders through an integrated self-service environment, the platform significantly reduced the administrative burden associated with processing sales manually. Widdop estimated the resulting back-office efficiency improvement at 37% compared with a manual, sales-team-led approach.
The platform also provided Widdop with a stronger foundation for digital growth, allowing the business to promote a vast and continually evolving catalogue more effectively while creating a simpler purchasing experience for its trade customers.
Rather than treating launch as the end of the project, PureNet and Widdop established an ongoing development partnership through a retained support and development model.
This enables Widdop to continually evolve the platform, introduce new functionality, respond to changing customer requirements and explore new commercial opportunities. As the company’s product portfolio, customer base and routes to market continue to develop, its ecommerce platform can evolve alongside them.
The result is a long-term digital platform that combines complex B2B functionality, intelligent merchandising and deep systems integration – supporting Widdop & Co. as it continues the growth and innovation that have characterised the business since 1883.