About the client

Ransom Spares is a leading UK-based online retailer of appliance spare parts. They offer nearly a million products for household appliances, ranging from washing machines and cookers to gardening equipment. The company has grown rapidly, becoming a trusted name for consumers looking for genuine and compatible parts.

The challenge

With such a vast catalogue, the existing platform had reached its limits. Performance issues meant that:

• Product searches and navigation were slow.
• Menus were complex to manage.
• The data structure could not support the relationships required between parts, models and categories.

Additionally, RansomSpares wanted to integrate with Store Feeder to manage stock, warehouses and orders, including complex drop-ship supplier communications — something their old system simply couldn’t handle.

The solution

Hero designed and delivered a robust, scalable e-commerce platform with three key components:

• Ransom Spares Admin System: A secure management hub allowing staff to import, edit and manage products, brands, models and categories. It also provided customer and order management, reporting and seamless publishing of optimised product pages.
• Online Shop: A high-performance store enabling fast searches by part or model number, improved navigation through optimised menus and cached product pages, customer accounts and a streamlined checkout experience.
• Communication Component: A translator layer that connected Store Feeder with Ransom Spares’ suppliers for dropship orders. Automated order routing, status updates and product supersession handling, ensuring smooth operations even with third-party suppliers.

The system was designed to handle large-scale imports and exports of product data (up to a million records), integrate with supplier systems and provide admins with powerful but simple tools for managing a catalogue of nearly a million products.

The impact

• Navigation and searching have been made faster, meaning customers can find the right part quickly, improving conversion rates.
• Automation between Store Feeder, the admin system and suppliers has eliminated manual errors and delays, increasing overall operational efficiency.
• The scalable new system has been created with the ability to easily support the continued expansion of Ransom Spares’ vast catalogue.
• Customer satisfaction has increased, with reliable stock updates, improved order tracking and clear communication meaning fewer customer service queries.