One of Europe's foremost producers and suppliers of MDF profiles
Client
W.Howard
Sector
Building Supplies
Platform
Magento 2
Project Time
6 Months
A Market Leader with a Website That Didn’t Move.
W.Howard is one of Europe’s foremost producers and suppliers of MDF profiles, from skirtings and architraves to window boards, wall panelling, door linings, and bespoke products. Their reputation in the trade is built on range, quality, and reliability. Their product catalogue is one of the widest in Europe. Their customers include builders’ merchants, specialist trade manufacturers, and retailers across the UK.
But their website was static HTML and CSS. No CMS. No product search. No way for the marketing team to update content without a developer. No way for trade customers to browse the full product range, access technical specifications, or discover new products online. Everything the business did digitally was frozen in place.
For a company whose printed brochures were a core sales tool, used at trade events and by retailers in-store to sell to their own customers, the gap between the physical marketing materials and the online presence was stark. The website didn’t reflect the business. It didn’t support the sales process. And it certainly wasn’t opening any new doors.
If your digital presence isn’t keeping pace with your market position, every day it stays static is a day your competitors are easier to find, easier to buy from, and easier to choose.
From Brochure to Platform.
The brief wasn’t simply to build a better-looking website. W.Howard needed a digital platform that could do what their printed brochures did. And more. One that showcased the full product range, made technical information instantly accessible, and gave the marketing team the ability to manage and update content on their own terms.
But the ambitions went further. The new site needed to be built with a future-oriented mindset, a platform capable of facilitating direct selling to builders’ merchants and specialist trade manufacturers online, broadening market penetration, and attracting entirely new business channels. Even if direct ecommerce wasn’t the immediate priority, the infrastructure needed to be ready for when it was.
We built the new site on Magento 2 with a Hyvä frontend, a platform that could handle a complex B2B product catalogue today and scale into a fully transactional ecommerce operation tomorrow.
From Frozen in Place to Fully in Control.
W.Howard’s website was static HTML and CSS, no CMS, no product search, no way for the marketing team to update anything without a developer. For Europe’s leading MDF profile supplier, the gap between the business’s market position and its digital presence was enormous. We built a completely new platform on Magento 2 with Hyvä that brought the full product catalogue to life online.
The new site features intuitive product search and filtering designed for how trade professionals actually work, letting users locate products by specification, category, type, and dimension. Technical data sheets and detailed specifications are accessible within a few clicks, and downloadable brochures organised by category brought W.Howard’s powerful printed sales tools into the digital world. Video tutorials and rich content throughout the site position the business as a knowledgeable partner rather than just a supplier.
Critically, the Hyvä frontend handed full content control back to the marketing team. What previously required a developer and a queue now takes minutes. And the Magento 2 foundation means the infrastructure is ready for direct B2B ecommerce whenever the business decides to take that step.
Bringing the Catalogue to Life.
W.Howard’s product range is vast and technical. Trade customers need to find the right profile, in the right dimensions, with the right specifications: quickly and confidently. The old static site made that almost impossible. The new platform was designed to make it effortless.
Intuitive Product Search and Filtering
We built a streamlined product search and navigation system designed for how trade professionals actually work. Users can filter and locate products based on specific criteria, specifications, categories, product types, and dimensions, getting to the right product in fewer steps. For a catalogue of W.Howard’s breadth, this was the single most important UX decision on the site.
Technical Data Sheets and Specifications
In B2B, the product page isn’t where the emotional buying decision happens: it’s where the practical one does. Trade customers need data sheets, technical specifications, and detailed product information to make confident purchasing decisions. We made all of this readily accessible with just a few clicks, removing the friction that previously forced customers to pick up the phone or dig through PDFs.
Digital Brochures by Category
W.Howard’s printed brochures were already a powerful sales tool. We brought that same experience online with downloadable brochures organised by category across their full MDF profiles and panelling range. This gave retailers and merchants the ability to access and share the latest product information digitally: whether they were at a trade event, on-site, or sat at a desk.
