Makro increases sales by 177% with new website

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Makro increases sales by 177% with new website.

Makro, the UK cash and carry wholesaler with stores at 30 locations nationwide, has increased sales and boosted its online presence by virtue of launching a transactional website with the help of Maginus, a software solutions provider for multi-channel retail.

Appealing to both Makro's new and existing customers alike, the transactional website has sparked sales growth of 177.43%, with order rates also increasing by a lofty 134%. Additionally, conversion rates have improved by 52%, site visits have grown by 55%, and SEO visits have also jumped by 40%.

Andrew Finney, Project Manager of Makro Information Management, comments: "Maginus provided exactly what we needed, and was also able to meet our challenging timescales whilst providing good support all the way through. We are still very new to the online marketplace, and are thus reliant on Maginus and its expertise to help to provide best practice in all areas of our new site and in the logistics of developing a new home shopping channel, helping to continue to develop our online business.  Not only have our transactional capabilities offered a superior online experience, but by raising our brand awareness, we have also been able to drive people into our stores too".

Makro can now process telephone orders, a service it was previously unable to offer because the retailer did not despatch directly, and the organisation also has the scalability and flexibility to increase the number of products available on the site. An example of this is the new division of a food service business that has been created. Initially, Makro had 1,500 professional catering products, but it will soon have 7,500, and ultimately plans to have 20,000 products available on the site.

Another beneficial feature of the eCommerce solution is a 'Cart Abandonment' report, which enables the retailer to follow-up with customers that have left Makro's website without purchasing the items in their basket. It also identifies potential issues in the system which may have led to the baskets being abandoned and, even more impressively, helps to resolve these issues. The site is also designed and developed to be SEO friendly, and Makro can easily make changes to maximise the results. The site is also fully tagged for Google Analytics.