We have recently made some small improvements and introduced new features to the BHL website. The changes are designed to improve the shopping experience and to assist product selection. We will discuss the changes that we have made in this blog post.

Improved Category Layout

We have standardised the category page design ensuring a uniform look throughout the website. The categories are now displayed within a blue box showing both the category image and category name. Underneath we have retained links to the top five most popular sub-categories as well as highlighting the lowest priced product within the category.

Tagged Product Details

We have mentioned in previous blog posts about our desire to tag all products on our website (currently 80,000+). Tagging products enables customers to refine their search, ensuring that they can quickly and easily find their preferred product using criteria such as Efficiency, Output, Colour and Material etc. As part of the design changes we have incorporated this data into the product page bringing additional information to our customers.

Restructured Layout

We have restructured the website layout on some pages ensuring that the key information is visible to our customers. Bestselling products now command a more prominent location, as do Videos, News, Forum Posts and Related Categories. Should the customer wish to remove these items from view, the option to minimize (or expand) the link is available.

Improved Product Page

In addition to the tagged data which is now displayed on selected product lines, we have tidied up the product page making key data more prominent – information such as Installation, Price Beater and Ask a Question.

The changes to the BHL website are available to see now, click here for BHL.co.uk

Today we launched a new look for the BHL website. We have refreshed the design and have made it easier to navigate and find the 75,000 plumbing products that we display. This is phase 1 of the launch, we have many new, exciting and interactive features to add to BHL which we plan to roll out within the coming weeks.

About the new design..

The website structure remains pretty much unchanged. We still have thousands of categories displaying everything from Boilers to Basins. The old site was in desperate need of a revamp. Feedback had suggested this and it was something that we had been thinking about for a while.

As I said the basics of the site remain the same (including our great range and low prices) but we have improved the shopping experience.

We have tidied up the website. The site has been growing and growing but has not had a tidy up session for a while. So we removed a lot of the clutter.

The website is wider. We decided that we no longer required three columns. So now the site only has two, meaning more room to see the products and a greater sense if space on the page.

Easier to find products. Because we offer so many products, finding what you are looking for can sometimes be a challenge. We have tried to address this by improving our Search facility. In addition to this we have tried to lessen the amount of clicks to your chosen destination by introducing a drop down menu and displaying deep categories. We have also put the most popular searches at the top of the page as well as a larger tag cloud at the page footer.

Resources. We have made it easier to access and find resources such as product data sheets and information videos as well as links to news and articles and relevant forum posts. It is also now easier for customers to leave product reviews and have their product questions displayed for other users.

Related Products. Many of our products wont work without another product, for example a radiator requires radiator valves. That is why we have improved access to related products and categories. This improvement coupled with our product reviews and ‘customers who bought, also bought’ will really help our customers product selection.

Points. Every product now displays the points that will be earned whenever a product is bought. Remember to login when next ordering to redeem your points and save money off future orders.

Social Media is an increasingly important part of our operation. It enables us to reach and connect with customers, industry proffesionals and students. Using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube allows us to discuss industry developments, new products, promotions and developments within BHL. Our new website design enables easier access and greater promotion of our social websites.

Please have a look around the site and let us know what you think. We hope that you like it. As I said at the beginning this is only the start. We hope to add new features in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled for future developments. You can see the revamped BHL website here.

Today we are proud to unveil our relaunched website.  With what seems like an eternity in development (but more like months) the new BHL.co.uk comes complete with all the whistles and bells that we could think of – more on these later.

OK, where to start. I supppose the first thing you’ll notice about the site is the new, fresh design complete with a new logo. The new site we feel is easier on the eye than its predecessor, each page has been considered and designed with great care and attention to detail.

• Check out our New Website

Our old site had become a victim of its own success. Increased traffic at times had brought the site to its knees. Recieving such an amount of visitors, we have engineered the new site to cope with such heavy demands using various methods. The new site has worked well under test conditions and seems a lot quicker and snappier.

One of the things we didnt want to do with a relauched website was the same as. Of course we wanted a big inventory and a faster site but we wanted to offer our customers a greater insight into both the products that they are interested in and the Plumbing industry as a whole.

As such the new site has some features that we are really excited about. One of the things we wanted to do with the new site was to integrate the great volume of information we possess with the products that we sell. So we have  integrated our News & Articles and Blog and Forum posts into the site therefore enabling our customers and readers the opportunity to make informed decisions about the products they plan to buy.

In addition to increasing our inventory (the new site is over 3 times larger than it’s predecessor) we have improved the way products are displayed including increased technical information and links (where available) to media such as Videos.

We wanted our customers and readers an opportunity to keep in touch with us through a whole host of media. Social Media such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube enables us to spread the word on promotions and offers, the latest plumbing news and reviews as well as product launches and news from within BHL. Subscribers to our feeds can benefit by being the first to receive product information or heads up on Special Offers.  We are also working on creating Discount Codes, some of which will be specifically for our followers.

But this is only Phase 1. Never one to rest on our laurels, we are already beavering away on Phase 2 – and Phase 2 will have some revolutionary new features that we are really excited about. Keep checking back to learn more.

A big thank you to all involved in helping make our new site a reality.

• Check out our New Website