Multi-Shop supplying high street retailers

Since 1988 Tate have been providing solutions to our customers’ consumables requirements, ranging from till rolls through to a One Stop Shop, including a full range of IT products, printed stationery and janitorial supplies. Following a branding project carried out by Armstrong design Tate were seeking a web development company who could both convert the corporate image for on line use but also develop an E-commerce solution with complex requirements.

theITbridge undertook the development of Tate's marketing web site in June 2004. Then followed the building of a specification for an e-commerce solution over a period of some five months. In addition to providing general on line sales Tate had a specific client who required them to provide a shop specifically for that client - carrying an element of the client's branding and only allowing the client's retail operators to order their own specific products at their own specific prices. In addition there was a requirement to implement workflow within this system allowing orders outside of given value/quantity parameters to be referred automatically by email to the next person within the buying hierarchy - all of this to be managed on line but fully integrated with Access Accounts Dimensions. Tate could also see that there was an opportunity to offer a similar service to other multiples and that in this way it could differentiate its offering in a highly competitive market. The solution was launched in April 2005 and has been compared in functionality and ease of use with Viking Direct's on line store. The multiple e-commerce sites are driven by one code set and one database for ease of maintenance.

July 2005