Owner and director, Craig Horne had previously a go at producing his own website using a third-party template but wasn’t satisfied at the result. Craig wanted a website that was every bit as sexy, stylish and luxurious as the showroom itself. These were first-class products and services and required a first-class web setting. In addition to a stylish design, Craig wanted to be able to add and remove new bathroom products at will. p]xe/ loom was also required to produce the copy for the website and tasked with getting the affordability of the products across without in any way downgrading the quality of the products and service. These were luxury items, yes; but they were also affordable.

My first decision was to visit the showroom in Elgin and get a general feel for the products, making note of any existing colour-schemes and slogans we could repeat. The photographs that Craig had supplied initially were inadequate for the job, so I took dozens of new shots in an effort to capture the stylishness of the goods and the feel-good character of the showroom itself.

When we had the right shots of the showroom, the copy and the site seemed to come together naturally. We would focus on the products in the showroom itself, establishing as much continuity as possible between the website and the premises in Elgin. Between January and March foot traffic can be a little bit thin on the ground in Moray, and we wanted to push more customers through the door. This meant making the web experience seem every bit as dreamy and as sexy as the showroom itself. Setting up the expectations of customers is one thing, but satisfying them is often crucial to a sale. We wanted customers coming through the door and seeing exactly what they had seen on the website. Wherever possible I broke the service down into a series of unique selling points: the quality of the products, the value of the products, the showroom’s very practical location and the passion and creativity that Oakwood Bathrooms poured into the job itself. I was also keen to emphasise the exceptional level of professionalism that Craig and the team brought to the service.

If Craig wanted to showcase a broader range of bathtubs and accessories on his website, then he would need an online catalogue. For this I created an SQL product database supported by a password-protected admin panel. Craig would now be able to login to the panel using his very own Internet browser to and add and remove new or popular items live to the website itself. When the user lands on the site they now have the option of viewing an online catalogue of products under their various categories and sub-categories. To get Craig started I entered in excess of 50 bathroom items, ready for the website going live.

The website is fully optimized for ranking in Google, adapts fluidly to mobile screens and tablets and features an interactive virtual tour. Hosting was provided at a reasonable annual cost and photography was thrown in for the price of the site (provided as a fixed-price).