Kooyman
Platform transformation for the home improvement retailer
As a dynamic, fast-growing and successful retail organization in the Caribbean, Kooyman needed an intuitive, sustainable e-commerce store to replace its swiftly built webshop during COVID-19 times.
With a rich heritage stretching back to 1939, more than 700 employees, and physical stores in Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, Kooyman has the enviable combination of a long-standing reputation and opportunities for future growth.
As one of the Caribbean’s biggest suppliers of building materials, hardware and home improvement materials to consumers and professionals, when the pandemic struck, the business had to act quickly. Kooyman arranged for a webshop to be built, to allow it to continue to sell to hospitals and government agencies.
However, the site was built with so much urgency that very little attention could be spent on making sustainable, more long-term choices. The main focus was to get up and running, and less on the long-term strategy. In short, the shop needed a complete rebuild.
That’s where Youwe came in. We were appointed to evaluate the options, plan the project and build an intuitive platform that would deliver an exceptional user experience. Now and in the future. With a customer on the other side of the world, we had to make sure the collaboration and communication left nothing to chance.
Different places and cultures nurture different habits, different online preferences, ways of working and methods of collaboration.
Our solution
Trust and personal customer relationships are key for Caribbean companies,
making Kooyman’s new e-commerce store a crucial, central pillar of their business. With a business built on trust, history and reputation, we worked with Kooyman to identify two key overriding goals for its new e-commerce site. These were:
- We make it easy to improve your house and accomplish construction projects anywhere and at any moment in the Caribbean
- In 2023, Kooyman is the absolute pinnacle of e-commerce in the Caribbean
The challenge was set, demonstrating what a big player Kooyman is in its markets. As a result, its e-commerce site needed to be a shining example of how to do business in the region, sparking behavioral change in the Caribbean islands
Creating meaningful connections, face to face
Working with a Caribbean company while operating from the Netherlands had the potential to create challenges. Different places and cultures nurture different habits, different online preferences, ways of working and methods of collaboration.
We needed to get to know each other properly. So we headed to the Caribbean. Our intrepid Youwe team headed off an intensive week full of user research and buyer behavior, orientation, inspiration sessions, requirement workshops, and plenty more. We needed to know exactly how shops are run on the island.
We ran user research in store, interviewing customers and collecting insights. By the end of the week, we understood the Caribbean culture far more than would have been possible through online meetings. According to Kooyman, the Youwe team now has a green heart, representing friendship with a close bond, peace and loyalty.
Highlights in our findings:
- Online delivery companies do not exist in the Caribbean
- Buying materials is seen as a fun, socially focused activity
- Business is built on long-term relationships and trust, above all else
- Caribbean people still mistrust online payments
At the end of the trip everyone could clearly understand each other’s requirements, collectively setting the necessary priorities.
Back in the Netherlands, we started devising the masterplan. We created a project around Magento, with a Pimcore implementation for product information management.
The results
A partnership built on success
Thanks to the close collaboration, Kooyman’s new e-commerce platform does exactly what they need it to do. The clunky, outmoded webshop is now just a distant memory. Online product discovery has greatly increased, and is now framed within a professional and modern-looking digital storefront. The business has better insights into inventory, as this is now connected to the backend. Data is also more effectively structured now, as well. In addition to the seamless online experience, the website also allows the business to publish its fortnightly brochures and improve the planography of its physical stores. Digital marketing campaigns have also now been initiated to capture new business.
It’s been a great start to the partnership, but we’re not done yet. Looking to the future, we intend to improve user search results even further, to be continued!