A CHESTER city centre-based firm has played a major role in transforming the website of a leading carpet and sofa retailer.

Sherwen Studios, located on The Steam Mill Business Centre, recently completed a 12-month project for home furnishings chain ScS.

The team took responsibility for the management and development of the website, facing the challenge of combining data insights with technology to create a new online shopping experience.

The result has been the launch of a brand new website that has flourished for ScS, despite the tumultuous retail trading conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The team at Sherwen Studios had to cope with unprecedented challenges throughout the implementation of the project.

Not only did they need to facilitate remote working, but the scope of the project also changed enormously as ScS were forced to close their stores and operate solely online.

This meant that the team had to focus on building an entirely new website whilst simultaneously ensuring that the existing ScS website remained fully functional and able to cope with the unexpected surge in online shopping.

Owner Matt Sherwen said: "This has been one of our most ambitious projects to date and we’re absolutely thrilled with the outcomes. The coronavirus pandemic could have derailed the entire project but thanks to the hard work and efforts of every single team member, we were able to complete the project and deliver it to the client on time.

"I’m delighted with how my team responded to the challenge. It’s been remarkable to see how the ScS website has thrived since its initial launch, helping the company to accelerate its online sales.

"The immediate switch to e-commerce only following the closure of their stores during the initial lockdown meant that we had to adapt our processes throughout the project.

"We were able to implement new facilities such as online appointment bookings, which were scoped and released within 48 hours. We were also able to use our data analytics and understanding of consumer shopping behaviours to understand exactly how shoppers were using the website.

"This meant that we could create an innovative new shopping experience which put the customer first, from the moment they log on through to the moment that they complete their purchase."

The new website delighted the team at ScS, with Head of E-Commerce David Bawden commenting: “Speed and responsiveness are the key components that make our company successful - and that’s what we look for in our strategic partners.

"Sherwen Studios helped simplify our entire development process. They managed to take complex ideas and processes and helped turn them into easy to understand outputs that even the most junior members of the team could understand.

"Their development and testing are first class and gives us the confidence to run aggressive development cycles. This enables us to make informed data-driven decisions to drive online performance and implement them almost as fast as we come up with them.”

Matt believes that in the midst of such a worrying period, it’s important to celebrate business successes.

He hopes that the work that they’ve undertaken with this project will encourage other local firms to believe that they can successfully manage large-scale, national projects.

Matt said: “We were up against some of the largest agencies in the UK for this particular work. It goes to show that you don’t need to be based in London to undertake projects of this size and scope.

"We had complete belief in ourselves and I’m thrilled with the outcomes. Much has been written this year about how businesses have been negatively affected by Covid-19 but we also need to celebrate local successes.

"I’m incredibly proud of my team and how their work has helped to transform the e-commerce strategy for such a large PLC.

"It’s an exciting time and we’re delighted to be leading the way for Chester businesses to sit up and shout about their achievements.”