Roofing Supplies UK came to Inspira for help migrating their Magento store to Shopify. Not only did we successfully migrate their storefront to an attractive new Shopify theme, we also equipped the site with a range of bespoke functionality solutions, unique to their business needs – including options for ordering made-to-measure products, and quantity-based discounts.
Roofing Supplies UK is an online superstore offering all kinds of roofing products and supplies.
Roofing Supplies UK is an online superstore offering all kinds of roofing products and supplies. From roof tiles, to guttering, to windows, to insulation – they have a diverse offering of high-value (not to mention high-volume) products.
As you might imagine, a large portion of their sales are B2B, for example, supplying contractors and roofing companies. Covering the whole UK, their online store is the cornerstone of their business model… but the unique needs of their business would demand something beyond just an off-the-shelf solution.
Roofing Supplies UK approached us for help migrating their Magento store to Shopify. However, due to the nature of their products and business, it was going to require some lateral thinking from our side – implementing unique functionality to power their high-volume B2B sales platform.
So how did we approach this project? Here’s a step-by-step summary of what we did – from the first workshopping phase, to the implementation of some unique custom solutions.
We always like to start projects with a workshop session – a chance for both parties to pinpoint the issues, and brainstorm solutions!
We always like to start projects with a workshop session – a chance for both parties to pinpoint the issues, and brainstorm solutions! We looked closely at the previous Roofing Supplies UK store, and we charted out a plan to create something even better for them.
This included outlining the site structure and navigation, as well as strategising the migration of product data. One of the key challenges from our side though, would be the bespoke functionality required to sell these products, on this business model.
Here’s how we approached it.
We migrated thousands of SKUs of data across – including rich product data – to populate the new store.
The first thing to do was building the site structure. We used the ‘Warehouse’ theme from Shopify as our starting point, as it could cater well to the large catalogue of products offered by Roofing Supplies UK.
We migrated thousands of SKUs of data across – including rich product data – to populate the new store. We also equipped this new Shopify store with a number of useful apps that are readily available from the Shopify toolbox:
Beyond that though, many of the functions that the client required would need to be addressed with custom solutions.
Our developers came up with a number of clever solutions to the client’s requirements. Here are a few of the bespoke features we were able to implement for Roofing Supplies UK:
Complex Shipping rules: The nature of the business meant that shipping could vary dramatically from one product to the next. Heavier products had their shipping rules based on weight, while lighter products used priced based rules. So it was important to display clear shipping quotes; but also, each product page would have to independently recognise any product-specific shipping rules, based on weight, or in accordance with any deals offered.
Price displays: typically, prices are displayed excluding VAT… However, the client required that on the product page, an extra line below the total should display a final total cost including VAT. Implementing this would increase transparency, and ensure that customers could see a realistic final total at a glance.
Made-to-measure products: Some items offered by Roofing Supplies UK are prepared to the customer’s specification. For example, timber or lead roof flashing. In these cases the storefront required a feature allowing buyers to enter specific measurements for a product and display a bespoke price when adding it to their cart.
So we created the functionality for shoppers to input custom sizes (between a min-max range), in either metric or imperial measurements. The product price would then update accordingly.
Price request form: Roofing Supplies UK also offered some products where the price was provided in response to enquiry. So we created a custom form for this, allowing shoppers to enquire directly from the product listing.
Quantity-based discounts: Selling B2B, some of the client’s customers were buying very high volumes of stock – so Roofing Supplies UK were keen to reward these big spenders, and keep them coming back! We created a bespoke system that applied discounts proportionate to the order volume.
So for example, if the price per unit was £10.00, that might automatically drop to £8.50 when more than 6 units were ordered. Then £7.00 for orders of 10 units… and so on. We made it easy for the client to adjust these rules independently for each product listing.
The new Shopify store for Roofing Supplies UK was a complex project, which required a fair amount of custom functionality to be conceptualised and implemented. And we’re pleased to report, the results all came together very well!
We delivered the new migrated store right on schedule, and it was a huge upgrade over the client’s existing website.
The new store looked better, but those custom functions and QoL improvements made a huge difference: Roofing Supplies UK was left with a bespoke business solution, in place of off-the-shelf approximation.
Does your business have requirements that aren’t being met by default themes? For all your custom Shopify development needs, just get in touch with Inspira. Our Shopify experts will be glad to discuss your project, and tell you what we can do to help!
