Sterling Parts needed a robust website and online store which was user friendly.
Sterling Parts came to reinteractive to modernise their online presence and ensure they were servicing the rapidly growing consumer demand to easily find and buy automotive parts on their phone or computer, any time of day.
What started the process for creating our new online store, was a review of our sales figures which had started to plateau. We realised that a reason for this was because our existing website was not exactly up to scratch at that point and it was presenting poorly. We wanted to create something that was user friendly and engaged with the customer as opposed to having a website for the sake of having a website.
Established in 1997, with branches in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, Sterling Parts is a leader in providing quality automotive parts and service at affordable prices. Car parts are often needed at very short notice and the ability to search, find and order parts online was important to expanding their business model.
Yi Ho, Strategic and Marketing Manager of
Sterling Parts, chose reinteractive as Sterling Parts’ development partner after a recommendation from a colleague.
Yi needed a robust website and online store which was not only user friendly and engaging for their customers, but also was fully integrated with their existing software systems to track and manage the automotive parts and delivery.
I was not from a website or digital background, so I asked someone who had worked in many design and web agencies. He recommended two companies to me, one of which was reinteractive. He advised that reinteractive was really strong with backend development, which was really important to us. We have a massive database of over 30,000 items and we needed a company that could take charge of that and build something that made sense and didn’t just look pretty. It needed to be workable.
With over 30,000 parts available, Sterling Parts operations require detailed tracking of inventory, sales and deliveries. They provide same day delivery in metropolitan areas, as well as Newcastle, Central Coast, Wollongong, Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. They also ship around the country, as well as overseas. All this is tracked through an extensive logistics network.
With so much to offer customers, both direct and trade accounts, searching for and finding a car part needed to be smooth and user friendly. Thus, the search functionality was key.
Prior to commencing development, reinteractive conducts a thorough User Experience (UX) stage, reviewing the existing site and determining what else might be needed. All key workflows are designed first, ensuring the best experience for users who are purchasing from the site. reinteractive’s UX consultant takes all the existing ideas and turn them into a clickable prototype so it can be tested and shown to various stakeholders.
A thorough UX Design can be the difference between a successful project and one that struggles.
reinteractive is a good company. When I have provided feedback, it was taken on board. I do trust you guys. I would recommend reinteractive to other people looking for a technology partner.
Once the UX was signed off, the new Sterling Parts website was then built, using the Ruby on Rails development framework and Spree Commerce, an open source ecommerce platform.
Ruby on Rails is a framework for building applications that is easy to extend and add to in the future. Once the core site is built, adding additional elements is a relatively simple process that can be completed by a competent Rails developer.
The Rails technology was designed to build robust and scalable applications that can get to market quickly.
With Spree Commerce being open source software, it reduced the initial development time and costs significantly and allowed Sterling Parts to gain a large number of features common to every online store with no ongoing license costs. It is built using Ruby on Rails and can be integrated with many other software solutions, meaning heavily reduced costs for future development.
Unlike their previous e-commerce platform, Spree Commerce did not lock Sterling Parts into a particular way of operating or prevent additional functionality.
The other point reinteractive addressed was a full integration with their existing auto industry enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, which manages parts inventory, transaction tracking and a wide range of other functions.
reinteractive applies an Agile approach to software development. A great feature of modern Agile-based development is that new versions of the application are regularly “released” to a staging server that the client has access to. Clients know what is going on at any stage and are in daily contact with their developer.
reinteractive also provides the Sterling Parts with OpsCare®, our 24/7 managed hosting service, which is built on the world’s leading cloud hosting provider AWS. OpsCare ensures stability and security with around-the-clock expert monitoring of client applications.
We have people on the road meeting our customers. After the website revamp, there was a very consistent comment that our customers were finding our website a lot more user friendly. They all say it looks great. That feedback is a testament to the good work that has been done by reinteractive.
reinteractive created an e-commerce website for Sterling Parts with a fresh user interface, operating on a brand-new, integrated, easily modified and extended platform.
The final test is with the customer and how they find the site when looking for and purchasing parts.
BigFuture needed a UX (user experience) design that would simplify a complex process
Investing in thorough UX research enabled BigFuture to have a clear, concise, well-tested outline of the user process as a strong foundation for the backend requirements and ongoing development.
reinteractive brought a degree of expertise that we didn’t have. There was a real disciplined approach about what worked and what didn’t work. They were very good at breaking down a complex offering into more digestible parts, that communicated and people can relate to. Their consultant was able to hold her ground and put across an experienced and workable solution in instances where some of our team had very strong and fixed ideas on how it should look.
We build stable, well-tested software, built with Ruby on Rails and Javascript. reinteractive provides a complete solution from project scoping, to UX, design, web and mobile development, through to hosting and maintenance. All driven by our seamless, agile project management processes.
We are experts at large, complex and customised solutions. Bring us your ideas, wish list, integration problem or technical need and we will solve it.
We work hard to find the right digital solution for you. Through our AppWorkshop we work with you to identify opportunities and engage in expert planning for business-critical applications. The aim is to get your application delivered and operating as fast as possible, with the viewpoint of incrementally adding features as the site matures and grows.
We help make even the most complicated web and mobile apps easy to navigate and create solutions that engage users, keeping them happy and on your page longer.
Our Visual Designers work with you to create the final look and feel of your website or application, including the strategic implementation of images, colours, fonts and other elements.
We take pride in working as your development partner to get the best bang for your development buck. Our team of Senior Ruby on Rails developers, and our Javascript and Front End Developers, combined with our agile project management ensure your project is completed rapidly, and successfully. We make your app fast, reliable and secure. We care about the ROI for our customers by ensuring we build exactly what is needed to successfully grow their business.
We will protect, monitor and scale your Ruby on Rails website or app 24/7. Hosted on AWS or Heroku. We wear the pagers, so you can concentrate on growing your business.
An application review is where reinteractive reviews your application code base for security flaws, performance issues, or anything that should be improved.
With over 200 major projects completed by reinteractive, we have a very deep understanding of best practices and ideal scenes in software development, positioning us to deliver a comprehensive report on the quality of any Ruby on Rails based code.
Our expert team have intimate knowledge of the Ruby on Rails framework, making reinteractive a fantastic choice for upgrading your application to the latest version of Rails and Ruby.
We have in-depth experience in utilising the Salesforce® API and the Heroku platform that allows us to build custom applications that sync with Salesforce, allowing you to leverage the full power of the Salesforce Cloud.
storeConnect is our 100% customisable, fully integrated Salesforce ecommerce solution based on Heroku. Your online store is managed from Sales Cloud® with all customer, product & order data sync'd with Salesforce, creating a smart, custom online shopping experience.
We work hard to find the right digital solution for you. Through our AppWorkshop we work with you to identify opportunities and engage in expert planning for business-critical applications. The aim is to get your application delivered and operating as fast as possible, with the viewpoint of incrementally adding features as the site matures and grows.
We help make even the most complicated web and mobile apps easy to navigate and create solutions that engage users, keeping them happy and on your page longer.
Our Visual Designers work with you to create the final look and feel of your website or application, including the strategic implementation of images, colours, fonts and other elements.
We take pride in working as your development partner to get the best bang for your development buck. Our team of Senior Ruby on Rails developers, and our Javascript and Front End Developers, combined with our agile project management ensure your project is completed rapidly, and successfully. We make your app fast, reliable and secure. We care about the ROI for our customers by ensuring we build exactly what is needed to successfully grow their business.
We will protect, monitor and scale your Ruby on Rails website or app 24/7. Hosted on AWS or Heroku. We wear the pagers, so you can concentrate on growing your business.
An application review is where reinteractive reviews your application code base for security flaws, performance issues, or anything that should be improved.
With over 200 major projects completed by reinteractive, we have a very deep understanding of best practices and ideal scenes in software development, positioning us to deliver a comprehensive report on the quality of any Ruby on Rails based code.
Our expert team have intimate knowledge of the Ruby on Rails framework, making reinteractive a fantastic choice for upgrading your application to the latest version of Rails and Ruby.
We have in-depth experience in utilising the Salesforce® API and the Heroku platform that allows us to build custom applications that sync with Salesforce, allowing you to leverage the full power of the Salesforce Cloud.
storeConnect is our 100% customisable, fully integrated Salesforce ecommerce solution based on Heroku. Your online store is managed from Sales Cloud® with all customer, product & order data sync'd with Salesforce, creating a smart, custom online shopping experience.
If you are not completely happy with the result of your bespoke development project when we are done, we will give you $10,000 worth of our development time, at no charge, to make it right.
Our OpsCare® and CodeCare® services also have their own simple one month refund and guarantee which you can read in our Terms of Use.