Equipped for ecommerce success.
Brandon Hire Station enhances B2C and B2B equipment and tool hire experiences with Adobe Commerce.
23%
Increase in online sales for tool and equipment rentals
Products:
Objectives
Improve online bookings for B2B and B2C equipment and tool hire business
Deliver consistent experiences for professional and DIY customers across desktop and mobile
Integrate with existing pricing engine and ERP for seamless fulfillment by local branches
Gain scalable and flexible ecommerce platform to promote efficiency and business growth
Results
Nearly doubled average time spent on site with robust self-service equipment rental capabilities
Increased SEO visibility by 26%, online traffic by 5%, and conversion rate by 5%
Boosted average order value by 13% and online revenues by 23%
Attracted professionals and DIYers for 5% lift in users and 4% more new customers
Modernising equipment hire
Having the right tool for the job, whether at a construction site or in the garden, can make a big difference in completing a project efficiently, safely, and effectively. Investing in purchasing equipment, however, doesn’t make sense for some businesses or homeowners when the equipment required for the task at hand is specialised, pricey, or only briefly needed.
That’s where Brandon Hire Station comes in. Part of Vp plc, a conglomerate for industrial equipment sale and hire in the UK, the market-leading company aims to make tool rentals quick and easy for construction firms, tradespeople, and “do it yourself” (DIY) homeowners alike. The company provides a large selection of quality, up-to-date equipment through more than 140 branch locations that offer on-site pickup or delivery nationwide. Brandon Hire Station also has a skilled team of service advisors available not only in stores but also online and via phone, chat, social media, and email.
In recent years, online booking has become increasingly important as consumers and professionals expect to be able to self-serve at any time. To meet the growing expectations of its B2B and B2C audiences, Brandon Hire Station needed an ecommerce platform with greater scalability and flexibility than its legacy solution allowed.
The company required a new platform that would integrate with its existing, complex pricing engine as well as its ERP system, for a seamless flow of orders to be fulfilled by branch locations. The website would need to work across desktops and mobile devices to minimise total cost of ownership and provide consistent customer experiences. With a state-of-the-art platform, Brandon Hire Station sought to promote business growth and operational efficiency while improving online experiences for its distinct customer segments.
“Offering our B2B and B2C customers the best user experience and customer journey was the primary reason that we selected Adobe Commerce, with its PWA functionality, as our ecommerce platform of choice.”
Alex Hannaford
Ecommerce & Digital Marketing Manager, Brandon Hire Station
Scalable, extensible ecommerce for B2C and B2B
Working with PushON, an Adobe partner, Brandon Hire Station determined Adobe Commerce to be the best solution for its business. PushON deployed the solution with a headless approach and used its progressive web app (PWA) capabilities. PWA Studio applies responsive design strategies to optimise Brandonhirestation.com content and performance for smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
"Offering our B2B and B2C customers the best user experience and customer journey was the primary reason that we selected Adobe Commerce, with its PWA functionality, as our ecommerce platform of choice,” says Alex Hannaford, Ecommerce & Digital Marketing Manager, Brandon Hire Station.
Working with Brandon Hire Station’s IT department, PushON successfully integrated the new ecommerce platform with the company’s ERP and pricing systems. The team also developed several custom modules for the platform to facilitate the hire booking process, provide competitive differentiation, promote upsells, and enhance services for large national accounts.
For example, historically many DIY customers attempted to hire equipment, such as a floor sander, without understanding the need for supporting products, such as a dust bag retention ring and RCD power breaker. This sometimes led to poor experiences and negative customer reviews.
To address the issue while still being able to compete with competitors on price, Brandon Hire Station wanted to avoid marketing bundles for the affected items. As a result, PushON developed custom functionality to add any necessary supporting products to shopping baskets along with an explanation to customers and the price of each item.
PushON also developed an upsell customisation that differentiates messaging between necessary items and additional, nice-to-have sundries. The function was built into the customer journey in a way that allows professional tradesmen and national account customers, who are less likely than DIY consumers to need additional items, to continue their equipment hiring process with minimal disruption. The custom feature helps boost the average order value and profitability of each hire.
Another customisation allows customers to make changes to equipment hire dates online when their needs change or a project takes more or less time than expected. In the past, Brandon Hire Station’s existing agreements could only be modified by a phone call to the company’s national customer service centre. The online self-service functionality uses automation to reduce the company’s operating costs, while adding convenience for customers.
Enhanced services for key accounts
To provide higher levels of service to Brandon Hire Station’s large national accounts, PushON further streamlined processes with additional customisations, such as eliminating the need for customers to type in a lot of information before receiving the pricing information they’re seeking. This includes seamlessly providing any pre-negotiated pricing that key accounts are entitled to, thanks to the integrations with Brandon Hire Station’s ERP and pricing engine systems.
Since national accounts typically involve multiple locations and users, PushON enhanced capabilities for lookup and modification of orders and invoices by various contacts at an account using information from the ERP integration. A price on application (POA) customisation includes quote requests that are automatically pre-populated with key product and customer information. National accounts can also make detailed adjustments for different hire dates and times for each item in an order basket.
To round out its support and ensure success, PushON provided technical search engine optimisation (SEO) services, making sure the new website was set up to be properly crawled and indexed by search engines for optimal organic results. The team collaborated closely during Quality Assurance (QA) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phases to find and eliminate any potential SEO issues, in addition to post-launch monitoring and testing.
“Handling the intricacies of the hiring industry, a complex pricing engine, and system communications with over 140 nationwide branches was a challenging job, but PushON has proven to be the perfect choice. While technical knowledge is of course vital, successful businesses are built on relationships, and that is why we believe that Brandon Hire Station and PushON are ready to move to a new level of success.”
Alex Hannaford
Ecommerce & Digital Marketing Manager, Brandon Hire Station
Trajectory of success
With the new website enhancements, Brandon Hire Station has improved self-service convenience for its equipment hire customers while reducing the customer service department’s workload. Average visitor time on the website is up nearly 200% thanks to the robust features and information available.
The UK’s Hire Association Europe, the leading equipment hire industry association, awarded Brandon Hire Station its “Website of the Year” award for 2023. Customers are also expressing high satisfaction, with an average Trustpilot rating of 4.5 stars across 8,300 customer reviews — 80% of which are five-star ratings.
In the most recent six months, SEO visibility is up by 26%, online traffic by 5%, and conversion by 5% compared to the same period the previous year. At the same time, thanks to all the construction firm workers, tradespeople, and DIY tool renters attracted to the company’s website, Brandon Hire gained 5% more users and 4% more new customers. Meanwhile, average order value increased 13% while the company’s online revenues rose an impressive 23%.
“Handling the intricacies of the hiring industry, a complex pricing engine, and system communications with over 140 nationwide branches was a challenging job, but PushON has proven to be the perfect choice,” says Hannaford. “While technical knowledge is of course vital, successful businesses are built on relationships, and that is why we believe that Brandon Hire Station and PushON are ready to move to a new level of success."
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