Reg Griggs
Clayman Supplies
Clayman Supplies Limited was formed at the end of 1978 as Nyetimber Pottery Supplies, initially supplying craft pottery and materials before subsequently extending their business to providing pottery equipment. They have built a reputation of competitively priced quality products for the hobby, craft and semi-industrial potter for over 30 years, and are currently one of the leading suppliers to the education, craft and hobby market in the UK. They import from China, Taiwan, Australia, America and a number of EU countries. Clayman is official distributors for Chrysanthos Colours and Glazes, Paintec Spray Guns, in addition they are a merchant for St Gobain (British Gypsum) Plasters.
After dealing with the frustrations of using another solution, they brought in the Ex-Commerce team to replace their current system which fell short of the customers requirements. Despite the solution being partly integrated, the system required too much manual input with orders coming through in batches despite promises of real-time transfers. The integration was such that it was apparent it had been designed with other systems in mind with some features not being accessible from an Exchequer specific standing point. After battling with the 'partially integrated' system for years Clayman finally decided that it was time to move on to a better fully integrated system.
The first step in the move
was to use the specialist Ex-Commerce migration tool to move all stock, images,
customers and orders from the current integration into the new system. Upon
doing this the system had the presentation, automation and speed required for a
retail store. Clayman subsequently found
customers complimenting them on the presentation and
ease of use of the new web shop. One of
the main most startling differences being the conversion rate of new
registrations to orders, their
previous e-commerce solution had a 30-40% conversion rate whereas Ex-Commerce offers an increased rate of an estimated 97%. Clayman also found the change from a
system that had four different programs and plug-ins to one comprehensive CMS
solution, saving time and obvious ease of use. Now that their new Ex-Commerce solution is
live Clayman can take advantage of the huge list of features provided by the
CMS and looks forward with potential future options such as multi-currency and
rapid development of custom modules to run alongside the core system.
