Farmway - eCommerce Web Design

Darlington, County Durham

We originally heard about Visualsoft through Business Link. We received help from Business Link North East with our website project, they provided project management up until the point a supplier was chosen. They contacted several suppliers on our behalf and using our requirements obtained quotes from 3 companies. Business Link then chaired meetings with the 3 companies giving us guidance in questions toask etc. Once the partner was chosen Business Link’s involvement ended, and Visualsoft was the partner chosen.

Visualsoft where chosen due to their proven track record, their expertise and most importantly of all their willingness to help us set up a website from scratch. At the start of the project we had zero experience of running a website and that includes not only the internet side of things but also the practicalities of order fulfilment. Even though we had a leg up through the fact we run 10 retail outlets converting that into website fulfilment is not as straight forward as it would appear.

We had a website, but it was an in-house website which was done by someone who wasn’t a website professional at a level that was required at the time but was soon outdated. It was less than adequate for the role and it was identified a long time ago that a new website was required. The hard part was finding someone to do the website properly in a professional manner and allowing for us to update the information without having to write web code in-house.

We needed to develop the website for several reasons. Firstly company image we are a reasonably sized company and require a website that portrays the correct image. Secondly website selling has been something that has been on the radar for a long time and was something we needed to try as a company. Thirdly we needed to improve our accessibility to our members and customers as well as provide more information about our products and services to the world in general.

Our competitors had websites and we felt that we needed to follow them, otherwise we would have been left behind. The new website does allow us to compete on a more level playing field than before, but from a web point of view we find it harder to compete with specialized websites or smaller wholesalers on price than the larger players. Its hard to understand how some companies are making money online, which at the end of the day is why we are all here.

The new website has had a positive effect on our company image, its professional and portrays us in a good light. It also portrays our wide range of services and areas of business. The website has enabled us to deal with customers outside of our traditional trading area which we would never have reached before. So its has been very positive on that front. We are investigating new sectors via the web, so it will probably take us into totally new areas of product as well.

Overall the website has had a very positive impact on our company. It has had a dramatic effect on the employees directly associated with it, allowing them to broaden their knowledge and skills. It provides a wonderful testing ground for new ideas and ways of interacting with customers, which standard shop based retail would never allow. We have been lucky in that the staff that have been involved from day one with the website have been dedicated and resourceful and it is they that have driven our website forward with the guidance of visualsoft. From a company wide point of view its another string to our bow and removes the feeling of why aren’t we doing it when some of our competitors are.

Plans for the future include further growth, its been good so far but more is required to start making more money. We would like to increase the level of interaction with our customers as we have learnt some surprising lessons particularly in the areas of product use and what people are looking for. We are looking to grow a good reputation which we are developing through customer service so maybe some developments in the area of customer service will be required.

We have and would continue to recommend Visualsoft to anyone that will listen. I personally have been in IT for over 10 years and I have never come across a company that actually cares about your website (in this case) and how you are doing like Visualsoft does. It isn’t what you would describe as a professional approach, its that and more really and is very refreshing from a business point of view. Visualsoft held our hand from day one providing advice and guidance, even on areas, which were not truly there responsibility. My only regret is that we don’t physically have the time to implement all the ideas visualsoft come up with, but the plus side is we have a development list to keep us growing and improving our website well into the future.