Revolutionising managing multiple global sites

As the world’s largest manufacturer of electrical heating appliances, the Irish based company manages and controls a portfolio of over 80 B2B and B2C websites for 20 plus brands across the globe. These include Morphy Richards, Glen Dimplex Electric Heaters, Faber Fires and Walker TVs. Each brand had its own website which varied in style, content and content management system (CMS). This made it difficult to find, manage and govern the websites. Using Drupal and Acquia Site Factory, we developed and delivered a white label set of 3 themes, 10 layouts and 50 components which can be used by each business unit to create and personalise their own microsite. Enabling the brand to quickly craft and deliver meaningful customer experiences across its entire brand portfolio.

Our main challenge was to implement a solution that would work for each of the different brands and future proof the websites as they continued to develop and grow. To kick off this process, we completed a thorough needs assessment. By delving into the website analytics combined with input from the company’s internal digital team and its stakeholders, we discovered that the company’s internal team was struggling to manage and even identify which sites were live. This lack of clarity and governance reflected in the user experience as various platforms offered differing experiences and information.

The solution was to build a single technical framework, a single white-label website composed of multiple themes, layouts and components which could be utilised across Glen Dimplex’s entire brand portfolio, including its e-commerce websites.

To make this a reality our development and DevOps team implemented Drupal CMS and Acquia Site Factory. Using the same code base and HTML structure, a single white label product was created which could then be refined, styled and used across different brands and regions. We also enabled the integration with third-party systems such as CommerceTools for the Product Information Management System, MSDynamics for CRM, and BazaarVoice for customer ratings. Meaning, no matter which system or tool a brand was using, they could still use the white label system. Saving them time and additional work.

The fact that the foundation is the same for all websites means that the white label site can be continuously optimised so the websites based on it do not fall out of relevance from a consumer experience point of view. The solution also makes the management and development of websites more efficient and flexible in the future.

Once the white-label system was up and running, we weren’t going to stop there. We implemented features to quickly digitise the company while greatly improving the user experience. For example, we enabled web chat options via bots which guide users through the process of selecting the right product for them based on their answers to a questionnaire. We also integrated a marketing CRM application within the white-label website to enable personalised engagement messages and to ensure that the business is compliant with GDPR. These small features can quickly accelerate Glen Dimplex’s digital presence.

Our team was able to lay the foundations to transform and bring unity to 80 different websites by centralising them onto a custom build Drupal platform. The templates allow the company’s digital team to compose different layouts for each site. Different themes can be uploaded and settings changed to dramatically alter the look and feel of the websites while still sharing common underlying HTML and coding structure. By creating and implementing a website design framework, Glen Dimplex has simplified and accelerated how it creates and rolls out digital assets and experiences while ensuring content governance remains consistent across its entire brand portfolio.