SafetyBuyer Excels in Core Web Vitals and Increases Key Events by 38% YoY
Summary
- SafetyBuyer, a leading online retailer of health and safety supplies, has over 40 years of experience in the safety supply industry. Today, they serve more than 105,000 customers, from small businesses to household-name corporations.
- SafetyBuyer has been a valued partner of digital marketing agency I-COM since 2014. As part of their forward-thinking strategy, they identified the need to evolve their digital presence not only to meet but to exceed the growing demands of the online marketplace. This led to a collaborative discussion between SafetyBuyer and I-COM about the technological and strategic assets required to drive the next chapter of their business growth, future-proofing their online presence for years to come.
- SafetyBuyer caters to a diverse B2B clientele, from seasoned procurement professionals in large-scale manufacturing firms to agile owner-operated SMEs within the construction and safety sectors. In a crowded UK market, with intense competition from both physical and digital retailers, the ability to deliver a distinctive and seamless online experience is paramount to capturing and retaining their target audience.
The challenge: legacy platform slowed innovation
As part of SafetyBuyer’s long-term 2030 strategy for sustainable growth, they recognised that its digital presence required a fundamental overhaul. The existing platform, built on a traditional, monolithic architecture, was no longer an asset but a liability that actively stifled growth and innovation. The challenges were multifaceted, impacting commercial performance, customer experience, and internal operational efficiency.
The primary challenge was the platform's monolithic architecture, which tightly coupled the front-end experience with the back-end logic. This created significant friction for the marketing and development teams. Simple front-end changes, like launching a new campaign or updating a landing page, became slow and complex processes requiring extensive development cycles. The business couldn't react swiftly to market opportunities.
Furthermore, the site's performance was severely hampered by Magento's traditional theming system. It was slow, particularly on mobile devices, and consistently failed to meet Google's Core Web Vitals. This poor performance not only created a frustrating experience for their B2B audience, who value speed and efficiency, but it also negatively impacted search engine rankings, putting them at a competitive disadvantage.
The solution: headless architecture powered by Prismic unlocked speed and control
The solution was to architect a cutting-edge headless commerce website. This involved retaining the powerful and familiar Magento 2 backend, which the SafetyBuyer team valued, while decoupling the frontend and rebuilding it using Next.js. This headless approach provided the ultimate flexibility, creating a lightning-fast, app-like experience for users on any device.
A cornerstone of this project was the integration of Prismic as the Content Management System (CMS). This empowered the SafetyBuyer team with unparalleled content flexibility. They can now effortlessly create, modify, and deploy rich, engaging content without technical knowledge or developer intervention.
This newfound agility allows them to be more responsive to market trends and customer needs, crafting a truly dynamic and compelling customer journey.
"Prismic has been a game-changer for developing headless websites for our clients. It allows us to interweave slices with product and category content from Magento. This flexibility is a key win, significantly speeding up the process for both our developers and content editors."
The results: faster site, stronger engagement, and empowered teams
The adoption of a headless architecture with Prismic has delivered transformative results for SafetyBuyer. The website now boasts a significantly improved mobile experience, which is reflected in the positive user feedback and a noticeable increase in mobile conversions. Key achievements include:
Performance highlights:
- +37% YoY increase (Q2) in onsite engagement time
- +38% YoY increase in key events
- Passed Core Web Vitals and achieved a significant increase in mobile performance on Lighthouse
- Empowered the marketing team with the creative freedom and flexibility to manage and enhance the site's content, leading to a more dynamic and engaging user experience.
A few days after launch, Kevin Rowe, Managing Director at SafetyBuyer says
"Another really good day today, site working perfectly, and seeing a good mix of returning and new customers using the site. We have been on the site all day, reordering images, tidying up some content, and adding upsells in droves – the site is super quick and our confidence in using it and trusting in it is really high."
