One of Europe's biggest names in heating and home comfort Baxi Group is launching a series of new websites www.baxi.co.uk, www.baxi.it, www.potterton.co.uk and www.baxigroup.com.
All the sites have been designed and built by Freestyle Interactive, one of the largest independent digital marketing agencies in the UK and the Midlands. With its HQ based in Derby, Baxi Group’s investment in online is set to continue with additional websites going live in the coming months.
www.baxi.co.uk is a gateway for both the consumer and trade user - on entering the site they are guided to click through to their relevant "customer journey." Consumer content is designed to help users make informed choices about their boilers and features include a product specifier tool. The www.baxigroup.com website has been developed specifically to meet corporate communication and Investor Relations information needs.
Baxi Group, employs over 5,400 people throughout Europe and has a turnover of €1.2 bn (£847m). Warwick-based Freestyle Interactive was selected after a competitive pitch and the completion of a Europe-wide research and scoping consultancy project which was undertaken in 2007.
Neil Randon, Baxi Group IT Director said:
The new websites are a significant investment for Baxi Group and a recognition of the value we see in online marketing. We wanted to take a group-wide approach in this area and Freestyle were very effective in helping us achieve that goal. Our continuing partnership with Freestyle will enable us to develop our online strategy in greater depth across the Group.
The revamped websites use a RedDot content management solution. Baxi Group selected RedDot following a review of three leading CMS solutions – a process managed by Freestyle.
Freestyle Account Director Alex Clifford said:
The RedDot/Freestyle partnership has worked very well. From the start RedDot recognised the project's vision - they understood the need to be able to create multiple sites with global administration control whilst providing local country-by-country management content control.
The drive to rebuild the Baxi Group online presence from the roots up was based on a requirement to create a group-wide standard and online strategy across its entire business operations. Initially this encompasses redevelopment of the UK, Spanish and Italian sites, before global roll-out. The new sites have a strong focus on improved customer relationships and loyalty as well as cost saving though reduced country costs and saving amortisation across all countries.
Freestyle's Alex Clifford, added:
The initial scoping and defining project was a complex and extensive undertaking involving many Baxi Group stakeholders, including representatives from Group, and the marketing teams in UK, Spain and Italy. This research provided the Board with valuable management information to facilitate the creation of an effective online strategy for the Baxi Group.