Which Dealer Has The Best Web Site?

[sancho57]

I go to a lot of festool Dealer websites both the UK and USA. some are very hard for me to find the tool I want even if I type in the PN or nomenclature.

To me Bob Marino and Warrens Toolfest have the best to navigate around and find stuff. I'm not saying that they are the only dealers I purchase items from. They do IMO have the easiest to navigate and find what I need at.

What's yours and why?

 

[joiner1970]

Funny thing is n&b, who are probably the biggest dealer here, have the worst search system.

Toolfest gets my vote as Warren has pretty much everything on his site.

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Stone Message]

I think that [member=6862]Toolfest[/member] has the most brilliant range of products available through the web site but (sorry Warren) you do need to know what you want as there is very little information about products there and very few links (if any) from one major product to its accessories.

I always start with the Festool UK web site and then try Google with the 6 digit part number to see what comes up. I did this last Saturday after getting back from the D&M show. I was looking for a hard pad for the ETS EC 150. The Google search showed Amazon as the cheapest by a long way and with free delivery. I ordered it on Saturday evening and it arrived on Monday morning.

Peter

 

[Bohdan]

And the prize for the worst websites goes to Festool  [eek]

 

[Stephen B]

[size=8pt]

And the prize for the worst websites goes to Festool  [eek]

[size=13pt]
Well certainly if you are in the US, you cannot look at accessories on the Festool site. Two weeks now; they must surely be seeing a sales affect!  [eek]

As to the Aust. Festool site, it's not bad but could improve if it was more like the UK. However for some reason I find Festool UK's site takes for ages to download, and many of the document downloads are still not IPad compatible.

My favourite dealer site is -http://www.justtools.com.au/brands/festool/
Just find the picture - simple really!  [smile]

 

[toolfest.co.uk]

Blimey, high praise indeed, thank you very much.

Considering the website was written by a friend and is updated by me, I'm really chuffed people like it. It is quite old now and as Google remind me, not mobile friendly, however the Toolfest website transformed our Festool sales when it was launched back in 2008, and continues to perform well without any advertising or expensive Google Adwords campaign and at very low cost.

Being bespoke and not an off the shelf 'shop' meant we could add some unique features, which I think helps to make it reasonably clear. However there is still lots more work to do and you are correct [member=11196]Peter Parfitt[/member], more info would be first priority. Also, the menu structure needs an update.

Any suggestions, then please PM me and I'll put them on the to-do list, especially if there is anything you'd like added or re-ordered to make it simpler to use. Customer feedback like that is priceless. But do send it by PM, we don't all the dealers getting the help!

If it takes a while to implement then please consider that with the margin on Festool product so low, I do find it difficult to justify man-hours on a line that has little return on investment, but I'll do my best.

Best regards

Warren

 

[toolfest.co.uk]

One thing I forgot to mention though, the original design was inspired by an American site, McFeelys.com, before they were bought by Lab Supply, it was a great site and a great company, we used to import screws from them and enjoyed working with them very much.

I think the firm has changed hands a couple of times since then and the new website lacks the finnesse of the original, but the design of the site and their award winning catalogue was an inspiration on how to present great products in a way that made me 'want-to-buy'.

W

 

[Michael Kellough]

One thing I forgot to mention though, the original design was inspired by an American site, McFeelys.com, before they were bought by Lab Supply, it was a great site and a great company, we used to import screws from them and enjoyed working with them very much.

I think the firm has changed hands a couple of times since then and the new website lacks the finnesse of the original, but the design of the site and their award winning catalogue was an inspiration on how to present great products in a way that made me 'want-to-buy'.

W

Shane used to work for McFeelys back in the day.

 

[geoffshep]

I have to agree with Peter, that with most sites you really do need to know what you want before using them.  Most dealers' sites appear to reproduce the Festool product details which are not very descriptive or even detailed.  Some are just inconveniently laid out and it is not even easy to see whether you are clicking on the 230 or 110 volt version.

Axminster seems to be quite good, with independently written descriptions, and since they appear to price match should also be competitive - although I haven't put that to the test.

 

[charley1968]

I like Axminsters' site for its easy navigation.

 

[Shane Holland]

Shane used to work for McFeelys back in the day.

Yeah, that was a completely custom website that I did back in the day. At that time, we had the most complete and thorough information for Festool available. Then Lab Safety took over, canned the website and made their own, and ultimately drove the company into the ground. Sad. I'm still good friends with McFeelys previous owner, Jim Ray, who is a member here. We still have lunch every few months and hang out.

We had a company redesign our festoolproducts.com website. It didn't turn out the way I had hoped, so there's work to be done to get it where I want it. Sort of wish I had just done it myself in retrospect. But, I think we have a solid site with a lot of information and the complete Festool catalog, plus some aftermarket products. I will be adding the capability to filter accessories by tool compatibility very soon to make it easier to shop.

Shane

 

[Paul G]

Sort of wish I had just done it myself in retrospect.

Shane

You must have a lot of coding ability to do it yourself, props to you.

 

[Shane Holland]

You must have a lot of coding ability to do it yourself, props to you.

Thanks, Paul. The current websites in Festool USA's portfolio were all designed and coded by me. If you look under the "Product Websites" menu at the top of the page, those are a few examples of sites that I created, in addition to the festoolusa.com website and some others.

I was hoping that the website redesigns for The Tool Nut could be be expedited by using an outside contractor, but it was not a project that went well. It was 11 months past due and had a lot of compromises. What was delivered was not up to my expectations.

 

[Paul G]

You must have a lot of coding ability to do it yourself, props to you.

Thanks, Paul. The current websites in Festool USA's portfolio were all designed and coded by me. If you look under the "Product Websites" menu at the top of the page, those are a few examples of sites that I created, in addition to the festoolusa.com website and some others.

I was hoping that the website redesigns for The Tool Nut could be be expedited by using an outside contractor, but it was not a project that went well. It was 11 months past due and had a lot of compromises. What was delivered was not up to my expectations.

Do you use CMS's or work completely from scratch?

 

[Shane Holland]

Do you use CMS's or work completely from scratch?

100% from scratch. For some of the newer sites, I used a CSS framework to speed responsive design. Otherwise, all HTML, CSS, Javascript, graphics, and code behind the sites using ASP.net was mine.

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread.

 

[Paul G]

Do you use CMS's or work completely from scratch?

100% from scratch. For some of the newer sites, I used a CSS framework to speed responsive design. Otherwise, all HTML, CSS, Javascript, graphics, and code behind the sites using ASP.net was mine.

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread.

A look under the hood of the topic is informative, most folks haven't got a clue what goes on in the background. It must have been terribly frustrating to see a poor product being built by others for you, not much different than how a fine craftsman feels when seeing bad woodwork, especially when done by a 'professional'. It's really hard to find good web developers, really easy to find bad ones, and most folks don't know the difference. I hope your employer knows what they have in you, a good sales rep who codes well is a rare bird.

 

[Bob Marino]

I go to a lot of festool Dealer websites both the UK and USA. some are very hard for me to find the tool I want even if I type in the PN or nomenclature.

To me Bob Marino and Warrens Toolfest have the best to navigate around and find stuff. I'm not saying that they are the only dealers I purchase items from. They do IMO have the easiest to navigate and find what I need at.

What's yours and why?

Thanks for the kind words. As most know, websites are a continuous work in progress, not something that stays static once it's completed - actually, good websites are never completed; they are always being updated.

 

[sancho57]

One thing I forgot to mention though, the original design was inspired by an American site, McFeelys.com, before they were bought by Lab Supply, it was a great site and a great company, we used to import screws from them and enjoyed working with them very much.

I think the firm has changed hands a couple of times since then and the new website lacks the finnesse of the original, but the design of the site and their award winning catalogue was an inspiration on how to present great products in a way that made me 'want-to-buy'.

W

Warren,

the double P- PP (Peter Parfit) was correct your site will show a photo of the product but doesn't give a lot of info about it. I will usually call and talk to the sales folks who answer. They are good at getting me the info and playing dozen questions with me. But I would like to suggest to add more info for the tools.

 

[Alan m]

I cannot fathom how some businesses stay in business with the sites some have.

I was on one lately in the uk and it has about 6 different places for things . all over the place . you have to go to different menus to get to see similar items or related items.  it is like having systainers under the tool box  section and sortainers  hidden away under the organiser section

I knew what I wanted but couldn't find it . I knew they sold it but it was hard work to track it down.

 

[Klemm]

websites are always a work in progress - ours too. We are always looking for feedback so we can improve our user friendliness and helpfulness, especially on our "Tools & Equipment" sectionhttps://tsoproducts.com/tools-equipment/
How about some critique and suggestions from this truly representative audience?
thanks in advance
Hans
info@tsoproducts.com