Client Situation:This DTI client needed a site (www.lamarble.com) where their clients could search and see their choice of natural stones from over 2,000 varieties carried by LA Marble.
Client Problem:
LA Marble (an independent division of Omni International Inc.) wanted a site where their clients could browse through their constantly changing inventory of natural stones. They carried natural stones of all varieties - marble, granite, travertine, limestone and onyx. Since they were not a technology-centric company, they wanted a site that was easy to update without any HTML knowledge. They needed the ability for a client to browse through their inventory in many different ways - from stone names to colors and more.
Their clients also varied greatly. They sold through their network of partners/dealers all across the world. They also sold direct to many contractors, architects and builders. They wanted to offer their partners the ability to send customers to their website to choose the stones they liked and wanted LA Marble to show some characteristics of the stones to aid the consumer selections.
Diffinitive Solution:
Diffinitive developed and implemented the following solution:
- An object-oriented SQL database that was web-enabled - all inventory and characteristics of natural stones were input into this database. All stones in stock were photographed and uploaded to the database.
- An advanced keyword and criteria based search engine was custom developed to meet their clients needs - stones could be browsed based on type, color and pictures.
- An secure adminstration area was customized using DTI-ContentMan where LA Marble could remotely manage their website without delays. Authorized changes mage to any of their website content would be made as soon as they were made. Additionally, they could add and edit all stones offered by them (including inventories) for synchronization with their in-house spreadsheets and databases.
- A lead-tracking system using a customized version of DTI-ClubMan was implemented so LA Marble could forward leads to the site of origin so their partners were always assured that business they sent to LA Marble was always sent back to them.
Client Benefits:
The client was extremely satisfied with the DTI solutions because they helped the client by:
- Reducing Labor on two fronts - manual stone selection for their clients and dataentry and maintenance of leads and stone database.
- Increasing Inventory Value by providing their clients with current/updated stone selections.
- Ability to make content changes immediately without requiring any in-house HTML knowledge.
- Increasing Productivity for their sales staff by having immediate access to site and lead statistics for conveying stone value and trends to their current and potential clients.
- Decreased Site Development Costs by having partners pay a small fee to use the database offered on the site once they were satisfied that all leads sent to LA Marble would be tracked and sent back to them for fullfilment.
