New E-Commerce Website Launched for Maypole

Tuesday, January 9th, 2018

The end of the year 2017 brought with it the launch of a brand new custom designed and developed e-commerce website for Maypole: one of the leading bakeries, confectionaries and caterers on the Maltese Islands.

Although they already had a website, we were commissioned to create a full website revamp, with a fresher look and added functionality in order to better represent their ever growing brand and provide a more efficient service to their loyal clients.

Identifying the deficiencies of the old website served as a perfect starting point for the new website requirements. The project was split into two main categories: the front end and the back end used by the website administrators, production and finance department.

The front end needed a design revamp from the ground up. The primary aim for this new website was to make it more user-friendly and current, ensuring an enjoyable yet efficient browsing experience, especially when it comes to the online shopping section.

For the second category, the back end, it was decided that the new website should be integrated with Maypole’s internal production system. The idea behind this was to make the process as seamless as possible, including automated emails sent to the customers as soon as their order is ready for pick up or delivery.

After several meetings in order to fully understand the intricacies of the internal processes of the company and to determine the needs of the client, the web design stage ensued. Detailed visuals of the pages in the website were drawn up and discussed with the client in order to make sure they were fully satisfied with the website look and feel.

Web development followed, integrating Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) along the way, down to it’s core coding. This is one of the major advantages when it comes to custom built websites. The website was designed and developed from the ground up, and nothing was spared in order to make the website look, feel and function exactly as the clients requested and envisaged. The website boasts several sections, including a state-of-the-art, custom-made online shop that is easy to use and a shopping cart that facilitates the payment process, making it a seamless experience between the website and the payment gateway. Several intelligent functions are also housed within the website code, such as the calculation of production time, based on users cart contents. This is then linked to the delivery or pickup calendar during the last stage of the online shopping process. This complex function ensures enough time for Maypole’s production department to work on customer orders, while also giving a realistic time frame for the customer to choose during checkout.

The website is also optimised for mobile phones and tablets, and was tested on several different platforms. Since the front-end of the website is integrated with a Content Management System (CMS), the clients were then trained on how to manage the system themselves with minimal interference. In fact, the clients are not only able to access and manage orders, but also update product information, news, and other content by themselves.

The website has been running for a number of weeks, just in time for the busy Christmas period. The feedback has been very positive and orders on the website have been steadily streaming in. We wish Maypole success with their new website and look forward to working on future projects with them.