{"id":4300324,"date":"2023-01-25T19:04:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T17:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/case\/revving-up-digital-transformation-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T13:06:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:06:26","slug":"revving-up-digital-transformation-2","status":"publish","type":"case","link":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/en-au\/case\/revving-up-digital-transformation-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Revving up digital transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\tHarwoods<\/p>Revving up digital transformation<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t(  Services  )\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
  • \n\t\t\t\t\t\tBrand & Media\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
  • \n\t\t\t\t\t\tCustomer Experience\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
  • \n\t\t\t\t\t\tTech & Data\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t
    Privately-owned automotive retail group Harwoods is the trusted partner of luxury car manufacturers including Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, Jaguar, Land Rover, McLaren, and Volvo.\u00a0

    Harwoods turned to DEPT\u00ae to digitise its business from the inside out. We implemented new technologies to drive operational efficiencies; changing the way its team interacts together, with its partners and its customers. As part of the two-year digital transformation<\/a> project, we launched a custom e-commerce platform<\/a> that expands its sales capability, streamlines digital car buying and enables the brand to compete with market disruptors.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\tMoving the luxury experience online<\/p>\n\tDigital disruptors such as Cinch, Cazoo and Carvana shook up the automotive industry, shifting car sales from traditionally being conducted exclusively in physical dealerships to bring the buying experience online, and make it mainstream.

    Traditional retailers were forced to adapt or die, but Harwoods seized the opportunity to expand its white glove service into the online space.\u00a0

    Since 1931 Harwoods has been the luxury automotive retail champion across the South of England, but it was ready to enter a new race.\u00a0

    Its reputation for service was established at a regional level, and strong relationships were forged with loyal, longstanding customers. As great as this position is to be in, the growth trajectory was limited. By leveraging technology, the brand recognised that it could bolster the success of its showrooms, opening doors to the national market and digital-savvy customers.\u00a0

    Choosing to level up with the help of DEPT\u00ae, together we pioneered a hybrid approach to car buying that puts Harwoods in pole position when it comes to both physical and<\/em> digital car sales.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\tCreating a hybrid sales model<\/p>\n\tDigitising the core of the business was the first and vital step toward building an inside-out, game-changing strategy. DEPT\u00ae helped Harwoods reinvent its business model by creating synergy between its offline and online sales operations, whilst boosting efficiency.\u00a0

    We created a dynamic and scalable commerce solution using the headless CMS Contentful, combined with Salesforce. It was built in React using TypeScript with Next.js, and hosted through Amazon Web Services (AWS).

    Salesforce was implemented to centralise its stock inventory and CRM, which were previously managed by two separate systems, creating closer alignment. Having all of the dealership data in one location helps to build customer profiles and gives Harwoods the ability to analyse consumer behaviour data across on and offline channels, empowering the brand to make informed decisions when it comes to future sales and marketing strategies.\u00a0

    Harwoods will now always have an accurate inventory picture, with synchronised real-time sales across dealerships and e-commerce. In Salesforce, Harwoods\u2019 showroom sales representatives can reserve a car by opening a cart offline, marking it as unavailable across all of its sales streams for a duration of time while they serve a potential buyer. Equally, if a customer is configuring a car to purchase online, other customers are unable to purchase it while they complete the sale.\u00a0

    In addition, Salesforce is powering search for its customers and employees, equipping its team with the right tools to stay informed, become more productive and collaborate effectively.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\tPopping open the project bonnet<\/p>\n\tWe started the project by examining how technology is evolving automotive retail and conducted market research and competitor analysis.\u00a0

    We took an iterative approach to planning and guiding project processes, following these six phases in     design sprints<\/a>: understand; define; sketch; decide; prototype; and validate. The project was managed in an agile way, making it more adaptable to change by focusing on the specific needs of customers.\u00a0

    Flushing out key details at the get-go unveiled issues, but allowed DEPT\u00ae to assemble an expert team to deliver actionable solutions, such as communicating prudent regulatory information in a slick way that keeps the user on the website and engaged.\u00a0

    As a result, we entered into trade partnerships and integrated their services into the website.     British Car Auctions (BCA)<\/a> is used to obtain car valuations for customers who wish to part exchange their vehicle; while Codeweavers<\/a> provides finance options and Rapid RTC<\/a> is used to manage forms and send sales leads to the most appropriate person at Harwoods.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\n\tTop loading the project and having these conversations in parallel to the strategic planning of the website build ensured everything ran smoothly thereafter. Customer journey maps were drawn out and supplemented with workable designs, powered by a design system<\/a>.\u00a0

    We created a central location to define, host and store all brand and project components from typography to buttons and reusable modules. Having these assets already built and available to pull into place ensured continuity and streamlined development.\u00a0

    We continued to build the e-commerce project in an agile way, delivering functional and testable parts every two weeks. Automated testing ran throughout, which streamlined regression testing and allowed us to catch and sort issues as they arose.\u00a0

    As a result, we saw a more polished system from start to finish. Over 54 weeks of coding, our team delivered 27 sprints. During that time, only 20 blockers were identified and of those, only 4% were bugs – a remarkably low figure for a system of this size.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\tA truly user-focused solution<\/p>\n\tAn emphasis on delivering a smooth and helpful customer experience aligned physical and digital customer interactions, whilst retaining the prestige of the Harwoods brand.\u00a0

    We put the customer in the driver\u2019s seat and designed the e-commerce website around them, using these features:<\/p>\n\n\t
  • A chatbot<\/a> <\/strong>is a visual cue that an advisor is always on hand for support. Having a member of the Harwoods sales team ready to assist as and when required provides personalised service, in line with the concierge sales approach Harwoods has fine tuned through its showrooms. It\u2019s also a great lead gathering tool, as prospects interact digitally, meaning Harwoods can collect details and assist them at an early stage in their car buying journey and add value throughout future stages.<\/li>
  • Easily digestible content<\/strong> is available throughout the website in various formats, including list views, videos and deep dives into the specifications. We designed a clean and simple layout with a clear navigation structure. Putting key information at the forefront follows e-commerce SEO best practices while facilitating a smooth customer experience, helping customers quickly find what they\u2019re looking for. And only purposeful images and information are displayed to eliminate distraction.\u00a0<\/li>
  • Pre-filled forms<\/strong> ask the user to do less. And when you reduce the burden, it leads to happier customers and higher conversion rates. We created pre-populated form fields throughout the website from first enquiries all the way through to steps to purchase. We created this functionality by leveraging personal details already stored in a customer\u2019s account. Putting this data to work not only removes barriers to form submission but also reduces entry errors.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\t
  • A personalised interface <\/strong>is designed to meet the user\u2019s needs and objectives. How a mother of four looking for a family vehicle will interact with the website is very different to how a millennial looking for their first car will engage. We drilled down on car-buyer personas and outlined their optimum path to purchase within the customer journey maps. When a customer specifies preferences within their account, we\u2019re able to tag content in the background and display the most relevant information to enhance their experience. Additionally, personal interactions in dealerships are supported by a range of online capabilities from information gathering through to personalising and completing their purchase.<\/li>
  • Help panels and tips <\/strong>have been created to guide and assist the user through insurance and tax considerations, keeping them informed and on-site. Furthermore, the complex purchasing journey is simplified with transparent and easy-to-follow pages, featuring progress bars and drop-down lists. It\u2019s polished off with options for \u2018Click and Collect\u2019 or \u2018Delivery\u2019. Harwoods helps customers buy with confidence, ensuring they\u2019re getting the right deal, and no box is left unticked.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\nExplore the website<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\tCreating a dealership for the future<\/p>\n\tDEPT\u00ae truly accelerated digital transformation for Harwoods, and delivered a scalable e-commerce platform that finesses digital car buying in a way that brings the brand into the future.\u00a0

    The platform\u2019s speed, level of personalisation and attention to detail deliver a frictionless user journey that\u2019s unmatched in the industry, positioning Harwoods to compete against disruptive automotive retailers, whilst retaining its stature in the industry.

    Shaking up its traditional business model with a new digital sales channel unleashes endless opportunities for Harwoods to expand its reach and engage budding consumers in favour of a hybrid or fully online car buying experience.\u00a0

    The bar was set extremely high when DEPT\u00ae partnered with Harwoods and our team worked meticulously to comprise a solution that reflected its luxury in-person experience within the digital space.

    Even more, we made the transition to digital super smooth for Harwoods by configuring an easy-to-use content management system and design system. The design, technology and digital processes we used throughout the project are paving the road for Harwoods to flourish into the future.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":4267805,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"es_utils_meta_schema":"","member_job_title":"","member_linkedin_url":"","dept_alt_featured_image":[],"dept_algolia_noindex":false,"dept_algolia_featured":false,"dept_accent_color":"#378CD2","dept_next_case_accent_color":"","dept_case_video":{"type":"local"},"footnotes":""},"client":[39729],"case-category":[42669,42672,42675],"award":[],"case-industry":[42681],"person":[1426],"class_list":["post-4300324","case","type-case","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"dept_is_3q_page":false,"dept_current_cpt_partner":""},"yoast_head":"\nRevving up digital transformation - DEPT\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Automotive retail group, Harwoods, partnered with DEPT\u00ae to drive business growth through digital expansion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/en-au\/case\/revving-up-digital-transformation-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Revving up digital transformation - 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