Leading household electricals & technology retailer.
Client
Reliant
Sector
Household Electricals & Technology
Platform
Magento 2
Project Time
On-going
141%
Increase in Annual Turnover
In a fiercely competitive market where many retailers are racing to the bottom, Reliant grew revenue by building a better experience.
17%
Increase in Average Order Value
A smarter product journey and improved functionality encouraged higher-value purchases across all sales channels.
78%
Increase in Conversion Rate
A fast, modern Hyvä frontend replaced a bloated, poorly built Magento store that was actively costing the business sales.
Competing with One Hand Tied Behind Their Back
Reliant is a leading household electricals and technology retailer based in the North-west, selling established brands including Samsung, LG, and Bosch across both B2B and B2C channels. The product range is broad, the prices are competitive, and the team knows their market inside out.
But they had a problem that was almost impossible to solve from where they were sitting.
Their incumbent agency was also their ERP provider. On the surface, that might sound convenient, one supplier handling both systems. In practice, it meant Reliant had no real control over their own website. Design decisions were made for them. New functionality was developed on the provider’s timeline and then rolled out across their entire client base, including Reliant’s direct competitors. Every feature Reliant paid for was shared with the businesses they were trying to beat.
If you’re running ecommerce in a competitive market and you can’t differentiate your online experience, you’re not competing: you’re just keeping up. And Reliant wasn’t even doing that.
To make matters worse, the technical implementation was poor. Critical functions like stock checks and energy efficiency ratings were hard-coded into the templates, reading huge blocks of XML data on every single page load and loop. The site was slow, inflexible, and built by a team that weren’t Magento specialists.
Taking Back Control
Reliant needed to do two things: take ownership of their online presence and build a platform that could genuinely differentiate them in a crowded, price-driven market where competitors were increasingly racing to the bottom on Amazon.
The decision was made to break away from the incumbent provider and build a new Magento 2 store on Hyvä, one that Reliant would own, control, and evolve on their own terms. The catch? Black Friday and Cyber Monday were approaching fast, and these peak trading periods were too commercially important to miss.
The timeline was eight weeks. From receiving the designs to having a fully functional Hyvä website built, integrated, and live. No shortcuts, no compromises.
Performance-First Frontend
The old site was weighed down by hard-coded data calls and poorly optimised templates that no Magento specialist would have built that way. The Hyvä frontend gave us a clean, lean starting point, built on Tailwind CSS for maximum responsiveness and customisation. We stripped out the bloat, restructured how product data was loaded, and delivered a dramatically faster experience across every page. For a catalogue of large and small appliances where customers compare multiple products in a session, that speed makes a real difference.
Custom nCompass ERP Integration
The relationship with the ERP provider didn’t need to end, the relationship with the web provider did. We worked directly with nCompass to build custom integration that seamlessly connected inventory management, back ordering, and product offers to the new Magento 2 store. This gave Reliant all the operational functionality they relied on, without the lock-in, the shared features, or the loss of control that came with having one supplier run everything.
Eight Weeks to Full Ownership
Reliant’s previous agency was also their ERP provider, meaning every feature they paid for was shared with their direct competitors, and they had no real control over their own website. We helped them break away completely, building a new Magento 2 store on Hyvä in just eight weeks, from receiving designs to going live in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The build included a custom nCompass ERP integration that preserved all the operational functionality Reliant relied on, inventory management, back ordering, and product offers, without the lock-in. The Hyvä frontend was built on Tailwind CSS for maximum responsiveness, with hard-coded data calls stripped out and replaced with properly optimised templates. The entire experience was designed mobile-first, with a custom checkout process built to inspire confidence on high-value appliance purchases.
Since the initial build, Actuate has remained on retainer for ongoing CRO, and the partnership has expanded to include two additional website builds for other areas of the business.
A Checkout That Builds Confidence
For a retailer selling high-value appliances, the checkout needs to inspire trust. We built and continued to optimise a custom checkout process, improving speed, streamlining the flow, and adding trusted payment providers to give customers more choice and more confidence at the point of purchase. The checkout isn’t just a transaction. It\’s the moment where the sale is won or lost, and every second of friction costs revenue.
Mobile-First Shopping Experience
The majority of Reliant’s customers are researching, and increasingly buying, on mobile. The previous site wasn’t optimised for that reality. We built the new store mobile-first, ensuring the browsing, comparison, and checkout experience was fast, intuitive, and frictionless on every device. The result was a measurable increase in mobile conversions and a higher average order value across the board.
What did this mean for Reliant?
In eight weeks, Reliant went from a website they didn’t control, built by non-specialists and shared with competitors, to a fast, modern, fully-owned Magento 2 store on Hyvä that has transformed their commercial performance. In a market where others are cutting prices and chasing volume, Reliant grew revenue by 141% by building a better experience.
1
Full Ownership and Competitive Differentiation
Reliant now controls their own platform, their own design, and their own roadmap. No more shared features with competitors, no more waiting on a provider’s timeline, and no more paying for functionality that benefits everyone except them.
2
Commercial Growth in a Crowded Market
A 141% increase in annual turnover, a 78% increase in conversion rate, and a 17% increase in average order value, achieved not by racing to the bottom on price, but by building a faster, smarter, more customer-focused experience.
3
A Partnership That Keeps Expanding
The initial eight-week build was just the start. Ongoing CRO, monthly strategic sessions, and two additional website builds for other parts of the business demonstrate a partnership built on trust, results, and shared ambition.
