Case studies
The McCarthy Group
The Situation:
The McCarthy Group prints graphics and brand decor for outdoor events, tradeshow booths, and conventions. They specialize in wall, floor, ceiling and window graphics.
Their original online portal was custom-built for one particular client and was not meant to function as an eCommerce platform. Changes could only be done by the original developer, the system was not scalable and could not integrate with other systems. Orders for their other customers were processed through Outlook and Dropbox.
Not only did McCarthy need to create a brand-new eCommerce site, they also needed to create a streamlined, online ordering process where customers could upload artwork files, view a proof, and then approve or reject it.
With McCarthy’s online business growing rapidly, this ill-equipped system needed to be replaced with a robust, scalable eCommerce platform. ASAP.
The Solution:
After a thorough review of their requirements, we chose to create their new eCommerce site on Magento Commerce for its customization and scalability.
However, since their complex ordering process was not native to Magento, our team went to work to build a highly-customized ordering system from scratch that allowed customers to choose a product, upload multiple artwork files in multiple formats (as well as paste links to art files), view a proof, and then approve or reject it.
Heavy integration with McCarthy’s internal system and third-party vendors was required so that any changes/updates to the order by either McCarthy of third-parties would be reflected in the order record. A new tab was created in the order record where proofs would appear and could be easily approved or rejected.
Because not all products required this workflow, we linked this entire functionality to a single product attribute. This allowed McCarthy to easily apply the process with pinpoint precision.
The Success:
McCarthy is thrilled that it can now provide customers with an easy-to-use website where they can place orders, upload artwork, view proofs and approve them for printing. Plus, they love the ability to turn on/off the entire order-processing functionality by simply adding a specific product attribute.
They’ve gone from processing orders with Outlook and Dropbox to a custom-built ordering platform that ties together third-party vendors, McCarthy, and the customer into one seamless system.
Postscript: To top it off, actual hours at launch came in 8% under estimated hours. In an industry where 20-30% over budgeted hours is average and accepted, McCarthy was quite pleased, to say the least.