Case Study: Oakfields AG

With over 40 years’ experience in the agricultural sector, Oakfields is a hugely respected company that specialise in buying and selling classic tractors and other used farm machinery.

Over the years, Oakfields has built up an enviable reputation for the quality and diversity their stock, straightforward product descriptions and helpful customer service.

Challenge

The previous Oakfields website was originally built on a bespoke website platform that limited certain design factors and made some updates time-consuming and costly. Oakfields decided to work with Realnet to investigate using WordPress with WooCommerce to meet their needs.

It was essential that some of the original functionality developed in the bespoke system was replicated (or improved) and these included:

Replicating the catalogue structure and product information
Automatically populating third party shopping feeds specialising in agricultural machinery
Options to allow online sale of specific products, or enquiries only
The ability to provide additional information to Oakfields salespeople as part of the website catalogue

A key design and layout consideration was also that many of Oakfields’ customers could be using a mobile phone in the middle of a field! Therefore, a clear, easy to use online catalogue with a mobile first design was required.

Solution

The new Oakfields ecommerce website replicates the best parts of the previous online catalogue in terms of structure and presentation of product data, especially images. Realnet also implemented a plugin that allows video to be incorporated into the standard product image thumbnail display.

Mobile usability is enhanced with a neat side-sliding navigation menu and sticky header and footer sections containing key navigation and contact options. The overall design balances a clean, easy user-experience with a professional look and feel that encompasses the Oakfields brand.

Brand loyalty is particularly prevalent in the agricultural industry, so the Oakfields’ new website encourages the customer to browse further product listings by brand, encouraging more buying interest.

Automatic product feeds were implemented for the Tractorhouse/FarmTrader and Agriaffaires agricultural machinery sites, allowing seamless population of these outlets from a single catalogue.

Within the WordPress/WooCommerce CMS, online sale or enquiry only options can be set, this means that larger equipment or farm vehicles can be traded through a quote process.

Finally, when they login to the website, Oakfields’ salespeople can view more in-depth product information, otherwise not publicly visible, to aid in sales.

Mobile First Design

Ecommerce and online marketplace integration

Ecommerce Website Design

SEO

Increase Sales

Results

Oakfields now has a modern, user-friendly ecommerce website that can be adapted for future requirements without the need for costly development. The design that remains faithful to the established Oakfields brand, together with a similar, but improved, catalogue structure meant a seamless transition for their loyal customer base.

Visit the Oakfields AG Website

Delivered on Time

Delivered on Budget

What do Oakfields Say?

“We’re very happy with our new Oakfields AG website and worked closely with the team at Realnet to scope and implement new features such as ecommerce.”

Terry Brock – Managing Director
Oakfields, Essex