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Portaltech Newsletter
Are your systems and platform capable of supporting multi-channel retailing? If not, read on…
Everyone’s talking about multi channel retailing and buzzing about the latest entrant to the mix – mobile commerce. But are you ready for it? Are your current systems capable of supporting and managing consistent retailing across multiple channels such as mobile, stores, catalogue, websites and call centers?
The QuickLive Platform, developed by Portaltech in partnership with hybris, is a unique ‘enterprise grade’ platform that supports true multi channel retailing. Deployable in 8 weeks, this affordable platform will empower your team to quickly and easily manage your own trading, merchandising and marketing communication through one integrated system.
L.K. Bennett and Portaltech Nominated for Retail Week Technology Awards
Portaltech are pleased to announce we have been shortlisted for the ‘BT Retail Week Technology Awards 2010′, under the ‘Internet Technology’ category for our work and implementation of the L.K. Bennett re-platform, using Portaltech’s QuickLive platform, powered by hybris.
Have you seen our new website?
We have a shiny new website, with more information about Portaltech, the team behind your vision, our technology and retail expertise and how we work with our clients to deliver significant business results.
Check out our recent client case studies for LK Bennett and Long Tall Sally, or review our platform page, which explains all about QuickLive: our affordable, enterprise grade platform, powered by hybris.
If you haven’t visited us lately, click here now: www.portaltech.co.uk >
Portaltech unveils iPhone app: StripeyLines
Portaltech is proud to announce the launch of our own iPhone app, called ‘StripeyLines’, THE essential shopping companion. Currently boasting a 4* rating on the iTunes app store, this application enables shoppers to scan the barcode on goods they are considering, for a price or product comparison. The app can also save these goods on a wish list for later research and evaluation, or to send to friends and family for events such as Birthdays, Christmas, or even as a reminder of the weekly food shopping list.
There are direct links from the app to Google, Amazon, ‘Find nearby stores’ (with a map and directions), iTunes (to listen to scanned CDs before purchasing) and even eBay. This is what customers are saying:
“Superb application! A must have which will be invaluable to save money during these economic times. Very user friendly and easy to use…..What’s amazing is it’s FREE! Tell all your friends, I know I will!” – Harry Madhar, 23rd December ‘09
“Excellent – Brilliant app, I’ll be using this constantly in the future before buying anything ever again. Highly recommended” – Tommo R, 22nd December ‘09
Not only is StripeyLines a brilliant tool for shoppers who are after the best deal, but it can also enable retailers to gain direct access to their shoppers at point of sale whilst still in store, to remind customers of special offers & promotions, to send voucher codes, or to provide additional product information. With a recent report that 1 in 4 shoppers are using their browsers to price and product compare in store, this app could not have come at a more fortuitive time!
Portaltech are happy to work with retailers and global brands to use StripeyLines technology, to convert your browsers into buyers. Or if you want to develop your own bespoke app, talk to us. Contact us below and take the first step.
I want to know more about StripeyLines and iPhone app development >
Portaltech wins Thompson & Morgan
Following ten months of rigorous assessment of the market’s leading eCommerce platforms, Portaltech is pleased to announce that Thompson & Morgan have retained Portaltech to provide QuickLive as the technology platform underpinning the future strategic growth plans of Thompson & Morgan (T&M), the U.K.’s largest horticultural mail order company.
Clare Dixey, eCommerce Manager for T&M, says:
“In Portaltech, we have discovered a partner who is forward thinking and is able to offer us rapid solutions that support our business. We can work with best of breed technologies and bolt these functionalities directly into the QuickLive platform.”
Portaltech wins Vitamin Research Products
Portaltech and hybris are happy to announce that they have won the hotly contested business to re-build the Vitamin Research Products (VRP) web and mobile platform, after lengthy negotiations which saw QuickLive beat ATG Live Store, Elastic Path and Congo.
The win is the first in the United States for Portaltech’s QuickLive platform and a clear sign that in the mid market, the QuickLive proposition is hard to beat.
VRP will take advantage of the ‘out of the box’ features in QuickLive for multi site, multi language and multi currency capability to power B2C sales across the globe and to meet the hugely ambitious growth targets the company has for online trading.
QuickLive goes B2B with KIOWA
KIOWA, the specialist suppliers of hoses, clip fittings, clamps, pneumatics, hydraulics, engineering plastics and associated products for industry, have gone live with QuickLive.
Kiowa required a replacement eCommerce platform to support high rates of growth with rich B2C functionality and customer service capabilities.
Andrew Walker, CEO of Portaltech said:
“The Kiowa win shows that we can compete with a range of eCommerce suppliers particularly at the lower cost end of the market and in a market segment where there is not a lot of standard functionality available. QuickLive’s pre integrated, ‘out of the box’ functionality, allows us to offer companies rich B2B functionality as standard, for a price point that few other suppliers can reach, due to the level of customisation often required.”
Portaltech wins ‘Best IT Project Team’ for QuickLive’s Long Tall Sally implementation, at the BCS Awards
We are extremely pleased to announce our success at this year’s much coveted British Computer Society and Computing UK IT Industry Awards.
Portaltech won the ‘IT Project Team of the Year’ category for our client work with retailer Long Tall Sally (LTS) to design, implement and launch a new online shop and the migration of its eCommerce operation to Portaltech’s QuickLive solution.
Portaltech also came runner up in ‘Best Project’ category for the QuickLive Long Tall Sally project.
The Post Office goes live with a new site refresh
Having spent the last 12 months working with the Royal Mail in a design and development capacity, to totally overhaul their website, Portaltech is proud to announce the go-live of the Post Office site.
With an incredible count of over 400 new web pages in total, the project has benefited from Portaltech’s agile methodology. Working closely with the client throughout, Portaltech have delivered incremental development updates frequently and provided a consistently high level of consultancy/support.
This tightly integrated relationship has resulted in a website that is simpler to use, cleaner on the eye and more engaging to the customer.
The Portaltech lead developer for the project was nominated for the BCS ‘Developer of the Year award 2009’ and the project as a whole has since been nominated for an e-government award. Check back to see how we get on!
Previous News stories:
Portaltech Wins LK Bennett
Luxury high street and online retailer L.K. Bennett has commissioned Portaltech to provide their new eCommerce platform. Portaltech’s remit is to take the in-store customer experience, attention to detail and service that the L.K. Bennett brand is famous for and create an online experience of the same quality. L.K. Bennett will be utilising the strengths of the Quicklive platform to achieve this. Since its launch in 2007, L.K. Bennett’s current site and eCommerce infrastructure has experienced exceptional growth and hence they needed a new platform that would scale to meet their current and future online growth plans. To do this, LK Bennett is setting an aggressive development schedule enabling them to meet a q1 2010 launch window. Kate Smyth, Head of eCommerce at L.K. Bennett, said ‘Portaltech’s Quicklive met more of our requirements in its standard feature set than any other platform. In addition the team is highly accomplished technically with great integration skills – the functional spec was one of the best I have seen and produced in only 10 days.’
Portaltech Wins Vitamin Research Products
Portaltech and hybris have won the hotly contested business to re-build the Vitamin Research Products (VRP) web and mobile platform. The sale closed at the end of Q3 and came after lengthy negotiations which saw hybris://QuickLive beat ATG Live Store, Elastic Path and Congo. The win is the first in the United States for Portaltech’s hybris://QuickLive and a clear sign that in the mid market the QuickLive proposition is hard to beat. Portaltech will be integrating to a local payment gateway as well as the Jeeves ERP system, Paypal/Google checkout and RateLinx for aggregated shipping calculation of multiple carriers. For phase one there are also planned integrations to eBay and Amazon along with numerous shopping comparison sites which will provide a significant new sales channel for VRP. Since 1979, Vitamin Research Products has been the choice for healthcare professionals around the world for pharmaceutical-quality nutritional supplements. VRP will take advantage of the out of the box features in hybris://quickLive for multi site, multi language and multi currency capability to power B2C sales across the globe and to meet the hugely ambitious growth targets the company has for online trading.
Portaltech helps Premier Farnell Punch Out to ATG
Portaltech recently helped Premier Farnell, the global leading electronics distributor to improve the user experience for bulk product ordering allowing some of their biggest B2B customers to order directly from their in-house ERP platforms. Allowing larger customers to punch out directly from ERP and procurement systems to the web site running on the market leading ATG platform offered significant time saving and a hassle free ordering process. The project was delivered on time and to a tight budget and again demonstrated the significant expertise Portaltech has working with the ATG platform.
Portaltech to Deliver eCommerce Business Success For Bombay Duck Using hybris://QuickLive
Portaltech has secured the contract to provide the technology platform underpinning the eCommerce business of Bombay Duck (www.bombayduck.co.uk), a rapidly growing SME retailer. Bombay Duck will migrate its existing eCommerce system to the hybris://QuickLive platform, which has been developed by Portaltech on the market leading hybris eCommerce platform (www.hybris.com). Laura Bates, Managing Director of Bombay Duck, said: “Our aspiration is to take the business to the next level in terms of growth and maturity and to do this we have spent a number of years investing in new back office systems to support our future plans.” As part of this process, Bombay Duck assessed the suitability of its existing eCommerce platform to underpin its current and future plans. Recognising the need for a more stable, flexible and scalable solution that could adapt to the company’s changing requirements, the team undertook a rigorous assessment of ten of the market’s leading eCommerce platforms. It measured each system on its ability to meet the company’s need for future proof technology, cost benefits, user functionality and experience, administrative functionality, look and feel, cultural fit with the implementing partners, interfacing, project management and ongoing support. “We were specifically looking for a partner who had a proven track record in being able to deliver a solution to support both our B2B and our B2C eCommerce businesses. Not only was Portaltech able to demonstrate this through its work with customers such as Long Tall Sally and Premier Farnell, but it consistently scored the highest points across all the areas of our test criteria,” Bates explained.
Post Office utilises Travel Insurance and Branch Finder on the ATG platform
The Post Office has commenced a project with Portaltech to increase the existing functionality of its online travel insurance to improve competitiveness through its online channels. Portaltech will also be focusing on improving the usability of the Branch Finder facility through the site. This development is a continuation of the business relationship spanning the last seven years.
Portaltech partners with LBI and hybris to offer SaaS based service for Quicklive
Portaltech have partnered with LBI, the largest full service digital marketing and technology agency in Europe, to launch QuickLive lifetime. The fully integrated eCommerce and marketing services platform, developed jointly by hybris, LBI and Portaltech will enable businesses to select and standardise on best in class eCommerce and leading edge marketing solutions and services from the outset. Using the SaaS model or on a software ownership basis, the highly configurable platform guarantees rapid implementation, significantly reduced cost of ownership and supports both B2C and B2B cross channel commerce requirements. QuickLive Lifetime brings together all the core eCommerce features, customisation, systems integration, and digital marketing services an organisation will need throughout its eCommerce lifecycle to attract, win and retain customers across the business lifecycle.
Portaltech wins Best Global Partner at the 2009 hybris partner awards & achieves platinum partner status with hybris
Portaltech were recognised as best hybris partner for 2009 at the hybris partner awards in November. Carston Thoma, Chief Marketing Officer for hybris commented that Portaltech were recognised as best global partner for their work developing the hybris://QuickLive solution and the sales success to date culminating in 7 new customers wins in 2009. Portaltech were also praised for helping hybris win key accounts in the UK and Europe by supporting the local hybris salesforce. They were also promoted to Platinum Partner status, the highest level of partnership which is testimony to the strength of the relationship and joint success that both companies has achieved in 2009. Mark Adams, Sales Director for Portaltech said that: “2009 was a good start for the hybris://QuickLive solution and gives us a solid base from which to grow our customer base and enhance the already significant capability of the platform. 2010 should prove to be a game changing year for both Portaltech and hybris with key distribution partnerships already in place and a joint strategy to make hybris the most successful eCommerce vendor in the UK.
Portaltech partner with 10CMS for advanced merchandising
10CMS Flash Merchandising modules enable a richly interactive shopping experience at high traffic landing and category pages. They encourage customers to explore and buy carefully selected products by giving instant access to information on product options, pricing and availability in an aspirational and visually appealing context. The partnership extends the QuickLive platform’s merchandising capability and will provide existing and new customers with a powerful set of business tools to merchandise and optimise rich media assets to improve user experience and conversion. LK Bennett will be going live with the new 10CMS module so check back in early February to see what can be achieved by using the 10CMS plug in for QuickLive.
Portaltech People
A big welcome to the new starters that have joined Portaltech in the last quarter…Aron, Adam, Ian, Prenaven, Rajeev, Simon, Charlie, Sam, Kevin, Sam and Tom. This year we also welcomed Andy, Rachel and Annie.
