Office Choice's new website is expected to drive more web-based sales as online increasingly becomes the ordering method of choice for many of its customers.
"The new contemporary, user-driven website is a significant step forward for the group that will see Office Choice greatly increase its online presence and attract increased hits and web sales," said Office Choice IT manager Greg Wiggill.
"Our internet capability was missing several key features; in the past it was primarily based on our printed catalogue but with web-based ordering becoming more prevalent in the office products industry, it was imperative that we develop a best practice website," he said.
"Therefore, we decided to outsource this function to organisations that displayed a high level of expertise and specialised knowledge, to ensure our site would attract many new customers and be world class," he said.
"The website has become our key marketing tool, alongside the full line catalogue," added Office Choicne marketing manager Bill Mallios.
"With new products continually added to the website throughout the year, it will be the most current, up-to-date marketing tool for Office Choice and will be used as a base for producing the full line catalogue in the future."
One of the key features of the new site is the transparency of product and price information to visitors. Previously the sites were shut off to non-members and potential customers couldn't access the site and view products and prices.
"With the site open to all visitors, we will position ourselves much better in search engine and Google rankings – which is a real advantage in attracting new customers," Mallios said.
The new website boasts numerous improvements to functionality including:
The home page has a new state-of-the-art look and feel, including a drop down 'mega menu.' A new updated 'hover over' product menu. The product results page includes a new powerful breadcrumb path. A new one product per page display at the lowest level, which has a print-friendly button and social media buttons. The search facility is significantly upgraded with a search function that drops down as users start typing into suggestions. New styling has been applied to the customer login, B2B customer functionality and about pages. The shopping cart has been enhanced, included being visible on the top right hand side of the page. Product friendly URLs, which can greatly improve search engine optimisation. Increased ink and toner search capabilities so users can search by machine or brand, type and model. Email notification of new customer registration.
Ten dealers on Office Choice's Pronto IT platform are already up and running on the new site.
"Testing indicates that the new site is attracting many more hits from new customers and in addition, visitors are browsing the site for longer periods of time," Wiggill said.
"The new site attracts more customers and users found products easier to locate. They also loved the look and functionality; so as a result, we expect to increase our online sales across the board."
