This month leading UK packaging distributor Kite Packaging revealed its latest innovation for its online business – www.kitepackaging.co.uk – which involved a complete re-design of the website. A long term project of the web team, aesthetically the e-commerce platform (which also acts as the corporate site) has been injected with a slicker design and fresh looking product pages to give a more modern finish. The simple colour scheme of white, black and green is reflective of the company’s brand and the clean, simplified product content boxes allow for easier customer use.
Functionality has been the key consideration in this impressive re-design, which was all managed and implemented by Kite’s in house team. The new search function uses an intelligent feature that predicts what a customer is searching for, providing a variety of possible options so that the user can quickly access the products they need.
The search tool has also been refined to include a ‘Search by Size’ option, developed to save customers time scrolling through tables of products to find the right fit for their goods. The new tool will allow customers to input the dimensions of the item they want to pack and generate the suitable sized packaging products including all types of boxes and bags. These can be refined by specific product such as document wallets or enviro-boxes or users can do a general search.
The team have also developed a simplified navigation bar for ease of use and condensed menus that drop down when hovered over. Kite have also redeveloped each product page so that they hold more information, designed to make buyers feel more comfortable making significant business purchases online. The redevelopment has included featuring richer content such as demonstration videos and more high quality images.
The re-launch has come just a month after the introduction of Kite’s Mini Air System, which incorporated a price comparison tool on its product page. The tool allows customers to input the current void fill they use and instantly see the cost savings when switching to air cushions. This has been the first of many tools Kite has introduced which also include an improved conversion gadget which helps customer convert preferred measurements to those on the site.
A spokesman from Kite’s web team said he was extremely pleased with the final result: “We have worked incredibly hard on the new design to ensure that the customer can be taken through the purchase process from start to finish in an uninterrupted, easy way. We understand that buying packaging isn’t a lifestyle experience – customers simply want all the information in an accessible place with clear pricing guides and tools to help in the purchasing decision.”
The new site went live on 3rd October 2013 and can be used to access the full database of public company information, examples of bespoke packaging and services as well as 2,500 stock packaging products sold direct through the e-commerce platform.