Case Study

Axminster Tools & Machinery

GFS simplifies Axminster Tools & Machinery online delivery conundrum to provide a personalised experience

Axminster Tools & Machinery

Business impact

Increased first time delivery success

Improved customer experience

More operational control over their delivery options

GFS provides Axminster Tools & Machinery with an application to clearly present correct delivery costs and services within the shopping cart.

GFS removes the guess work and simplifies shipping personalisation to ensure the offering is right every time and the promise can be fulfilled.

The Client

Founded more than 40 years ago, Axminster Tools & Machinery holds one of the most extensive ranges of tools, machinery, accessories and consumables in the UK. The family run business, based in the south west of England, has eight stores across the UK and their overseas business is going from strength to strength.

The Situation

With over 17,000 products of all shapes and sizes, ranging from a small pack of screws to a 500kg woodworking machine, offering a delivery tailored to each item is a complex but imperative task. Axminster also needed a solution to work across their multiple systems.

“Our back office and website both had different rule sets in place for shipping. Ensuring these were always in sync, along with handling our complex range of products was becoming a big issue.”

Axminster use a mix of carriers and services to match their varied product ranges and need to ensure the correct charges are applied for delivery to avoid negatively impacting margin.

The Solution

Axminster Tools & Machinery implemented GFS Checkout within their Magento website to display correct delivery options and shipping costs dependent on the consumer’s location and goods in the basket.

GFS worked with Axminster Tools & Machinery to create delivery rules that would meet consumer needs as well as business requirements. The diverse inventory resulted in intricate rules to ensure the variance between their items; in terms of weight, dimensions or hazardous contents, can be referenced against carrier services and destinations to certify the delivery promise could be kept.

The powerful rules engine ensures the correct costs are displayed for the consumers’ specific address. This guarantees Axminster Tools & Machinery display accurate rates for all destinations, including international regions, so they never unknowingly lose out on the cost of delivery.

Control is given to the consumer so they can select the service and day they would like their delivery. The information is then passed to Axminster Tools & Machinery’s internal system to fulfil the order.

“I would recommend GFS Checkout, it enhances the most important business process – delivery to the customer. We also have the ability to easily add new services such as click and collect and drop points in the future.”
Andrew Parkhouse, Operations Director Axminster Tools & Machinery

GFS Checkout has help boost Axminster Tools & Machinery customer experience by:

  • Ensuring correct costs are displayed specific to customer location
  • Providing delivery choice and convenience to their customers
  • Increasing first time delivery success by empowering the customer to choose the delivery date
  • Managing rules centrally and applying changes to their web store in real time

The Result

Andrew Parkhouse has been impressed with the capability of the system and is delighted to be able to correctly present delivery options for over 17,000 items all tailored to locations across the globe.

“GFS checkout offered us a solution that allows us to set up shipping rules in one place that all our systems can access.”

The Follow Up

GFS are continually reviewing carrier service offerings to ensure any alterations are reflected in Axminster Tools & Machinery’s delivery rules, keeping them precise at all times. GFS are on hand to provide advice and help to define rules for new product ranges or any new services they would like to access in the future.

About the company

  • Axminster is a family-run business with 45 years’ experience in tools and machinery
  • Based in the South West of England with customers in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe
  • Customers range from trade professionals to amateur DIY and hobby enthusiasts

The need

  • Delivery to support a diverse product range of over 17,000 product lines cost-effectively
  • To offer customers wider choice of delivery options
  • A solution that could keep despatch simple and integrate with their existing system

The GFS Solution

  • GFS Managed Multi-carrier Services

  • GFS Seeker

  • GFS Selector

  • GFS Checkout

  • Integration via Magento