Case Studies

Unlocking the national potential of one of London’s finest Delicatessens

Design & UX
Digital Marketing
Integrations
Woocommerce

Recognised for over 80 years, Panzer’s has been a renowned name among London’s finest deli’s. Seeking to improve their national online reach, they turned to new strategies after a disappointing website launch with their previous agency.

Client:

Panzer's Deli

Website:

panzers.com

Project Scope

Discovery & Strategy

Technical SEO audit

UX Wireframes, full eCommerce site design

Fully bespoke WordPress theme

Custom delivery booking & collect in store system

Full integration with Vector ePOS system for unified products and stock

Project Summary

Panzer’s, a well-established London retail store, initially maintained a basic website featuring their store location, opening hours and basic information about a selection of products without the ability to order online.

In 2018, the company embarked on a significant digital transformation project, aiming to develop an eCommerce platform that would enable local and national deliveries of their products via their website.

Despite the ambitious goals, the initial launch in late 2018 fell short of expectations due to critical SEO and user experience (UX) issues gaining little traffic traction and search visibility.

The challenges facing Panzer’s

The initial eCommerce site faced several significant challenges. It featured only a limited selection of in-store inventory, with products available for either local delivery by Panzer’s own drivers or national delivery.

The user experience was notably poor, primarily due the previous agency adding a pop-up that forced users to enter their postcode before browsing, resulting in high bounce rates. This pop-up also obstructed search engine bots from indexing the site, severely impacting organic search visibility.

Additionally, the site’s URL structure was not optimised for search engines, further compromising SEO performance. The overall site performance was flawed by slow navigation and inefficient site search functionality, which hindered the user experience.          

Our Solution

To address the challenges faced by Panzer’s, we adopted a structured, agile approach, which over the years translated into three distinct sprints.

Sprint 1: Improved SEO, UX and Changing the Delivery Process

In the first sprint, our focus was on enhancing site speed, resolving critical UX and SEO issues, and improving the delivery process. We developed a custom theme to optimise site performance and reengineered key functionalities. This included removing the problematic postcode pop-up and implementing clear labels for local and national delivery options, enabling users to browse the site seamlessly and view product availability based on their location.

Solution:

Develop a new system for delivery, adhering to standard UX patterns and maximising user retention through the funnel.

Benefit:

Users could now browse the site with no friction but still easily see what items were available to their location.

Sprint 2: Integration with Vector ePOS System

Following the successful relaunch of the site, which saw improved order volumes and increased traffic, Panzer’s sought to streamline their inventory management and integrate their in-store ePOS system. This led to our second sprint, where we collaborated with CSY to create a bespoke plugin for real-time synchronisation of product data, pricing, and stock levels with Vector ePOS. This integration improved stock accuracy and simplified order fulfilment, reducing issues with overselling and outdated pricing. This was no small project!

Solution:

A bespoke plugin, implemented in partnership with the team at CSY to work with their Vector ePOS platform.

Benefit:

Real-time syncing of products, orders and customers. Items were no longer over-sold, or with out-of-date pricing. This also made order fulfilment much easier for the back-office team.

Sprint 3: Overhaul of the Checkout Process

In the third sprint, we concentrated on refining the checkout process. With the site handling an increasing volume of orders daily, we identified three main delivery types: in-store collection, delivery to someone else, and personal purchases. Feedback indicated that the default WooCommerce checkout, whilst working okay, was causing confusion and friction for users. To address this, we redesigned the checkout process to better accommodate these diverse purchasing scenarios and enhance the overall user experience.

Solution:

We wireframed, designed and then custom built a bespoke checkout process optimised for mobile – considering the variety of different user journeys through the purchasing funnel.

Benefit:

Increase in conversion rates through the store and significant reduction in customer service issues and queries. The upsells and gift wrap options we implemented also raised average order values.

Covid-19, Lockdowns and Food Deliveries

We are fortunate to have been working with Panzer’s now for a number of years, with the relationship starting in mid-2018. This meant that we were a core part of their team during the very turbulent times of 2020, where the UK was in a national lockdown.

As a local supplier of food, they were allowed to remain open – as essential workers. However, depending on the government advice at the time, they either had to close their doors entirely, or let in a very small number of customers.

Essentially, this meant that we had to, very rapidly, put in place systems for local grocery delivery. During this period, we had weekly status meetings with the Store Manager and Head of eCommerce working in a very agile fashion, launched updates to the site nearly every week for around 3 months, whilst working with the Panzer’s customer base to ensure we were meeting their needs.

The Ongoing Evolution of the Website

As with most of our clients, we continue to work with Panzer’s on an ongoing monthly basis, helping them to meet their business objectives and growing the store, whilst also solving back-office issues and building systems to automate aspects of order fulfilment, where possible.

One area we are particularly proud of is in the technical SEO consultancy and strategy we’ve undertaken for them and the changes we’ve made to grow their organic presence. The growth speaks for itself…

The Results…

The implementation of the new website and removing the critical UX and SEO issues very quickly produced results. Below are just some of the stats comparing the 12 months prior to our involvement and the 12 months since we began our partnership with Panzer’s.

0%
Conversion Rate
0%
Unique Users
0x
Growth in Order Volume

Are you interested in seeing how we can do the same for your business? Get in touch!

See more of our work

See all work