CUSTOMER STORIES
Unlocking online sales for a UK industrial leader
Tech Hose
One of the UK’s leading suppliers of all types of hydraulic and industrial hose and ancillary equipment. A family business moving with the times.
Tech Hose supply hoses, fittings and couplings to agricultural, industrial, automotive and OEM customers. It’s a family business where father and son Richard and Chris have pretty well memorised 90,000+ part numbers and guide customers to the right products.
After achieving elevated distributor status with their main supplier, Flowtech, they became one of a small number who can offer the most advantageous trade prices. A great opportunity to expand the business further, but how?
To grow the business, they needed to bring their huge range of products online. But they were determined to replicate the experience customers receive at their Hereford showroom.
The business uses Pegasus Opera, a legacy system which has been heavily moulded to reflect the way they work, including a three-dimensional discount structure with variable levels across customers, product categories and specific products, plus, for certain customers, a specific price list.
Their relationship with Flowtech means preferrential access to stock and pricing, exceeding what can be held in their own store. So the need for a whitelabeled, drop-shipping model also arose for when local stock wasn’t available.
90k+ products, all at customer-specific discounts and spread across multiple stock-centres… that’s the Onsilla challenge.
A tailored experience for every customer
Opera connects to our API; we pull products, stocks, customer accounts and pricing, and we return orders and delivery information.
Established customers who know their own product requirements log in, see their own net prices and order as it suits them.
Many also use the ‘Lists’ feature to make light work of ordering regular product combinations. The quick search on the site works rapidly and more than 50% of users use this to quickly find products.
This has reduced time spent on the phone with customers, who can now order easily online.
Multiple stock-centres made easy
The Tech Hose website gives stock availability based on both Hereford and Flowtech stocks so customers can order in confidence.
When a customer is building their order on the website, Onsilla looks at stocks held by Tech Hose, and if one line is out of stock there, it looks up the whole order at Flowtech. If the order can be completed by Flowtech, it is dispatched white label directly, with invoicing etc. managed by Opera.
Complex stock management and order routing, completely invisible to the end-user and with no staff input needed.
Marketing Tech Hose
The site is designed to provide an optimal user experience with rapid page loads, even when pulling through customer-specific pricing. Great for users, and likewise for Google Core Web Vitals. Onsilla has great marketing features built in, with links to mailing providers and Google Shopping, for example. We’ve harnessed AI to quickly produce content-rich category introductions.
The site has our own custom-developed page builder, which allows Tech Hose to make quick and easy on the eye blog posts and landing pages.
Post launch, the Onsilla marketing team are working closely with Tech Hose to broaden their reach from local to national.
- Rapid developer response
- SEO and Analytics
- Offers and e-marketing
- Blog posts