Draper Tools Case Study

Development of a B2C Website & Web App Using WebSmart

IBM i modernisation & development project completed despite Draper Tools having very little HTML or PHP experience

About the Company

The Sharpest Tools in The Box

Founded in 1919, Draper Tools is the brand of choice for auto mechanics, joiners, electricians and DIY enthusiasts. Although the tools are available through dealers throughout the UK, a growing proportion of its tools are sold through its e-commerce websites.

Rapid PHP development

B2C website developed in under 5 months which processes thousands of orders per month & hosts 15,000+ products

Complex functionality

Custom graphical items, unique search feature & payment gateways all incorporated into the new website

WebSmart for multiple projects

Tool then used to develop an online ordering system for export customers plus other modernisation projects

Customer-facing ecommerce website

Web-based application development carried out in-house processes '000s orders a month

When Draper Tools revamped its business-to-consumer (B2C) website to improve the user experience, they selected WebSmart, the IBM i web development tool developed by Fresche Solutions. Processing and managing thousands of orders per month with tens of thousands of product lines is a business-critical function required by the organisation.

Developing a PHP application on IBM i

Easy customisation of WebSmart’s templates

Using WebSmart, four members of the six-strong Draper Tools development team were able to quickly customise WebSmart’s existing templates despite having very little HTML or PHP development experience. So quick was the learning curve for the developers, they were able to write an entire IBM i-based (previously known as AS400, iSeries or System i) catalogue and shopping cart application in just under five months.

Online ordering system for export customers

Extending web-based functionality even further

After completing the B2C site, Draper’s IT team wrote a simple online ordering system for export customers. This has replaced a fax ordering system that required each order to be keyed twice – once by the customer and again by the Draper sales team. Draper also replaced several queries with a simple web page that lets users select options for extracting information from the database to produce an Excel-compatible spreadsheet in CSV format.

Capture and process payments

Simple payment processing sitewide

The payment process is handled through a WebSmart API that connects with a Web Service that clears credit card transactions. Once the order is complete, Draper’s shopping cart application sends an HTML-formatted email to the customer to confirm the details. This is handled by WebSmart’s native email functions.