Beagle Orthopaedic

How creating multiple, targeted eCommerce websites generated an uplift of 75% in online sales for British manufacturer, Beagle Orthopaedic

Our work included:

Visual Identity – Photography – Video Production – eCommerce Website Design & Build

BACKGROUND

Who are they? Beagle Orthopaedic are the UK’s leading designer, manufacturer and provider of soft orthopaedic goods, such as supports and braces. Their service extends to the design of bespoke products and custom fabrication devices, and they supply the NHS, as well as directly to consumers.

The challenge

Beagle are a great British success story, designing and manufacturing their extensive range of orthopaedic products right here in the UK. Cloud 9 came recommended when Beagle recognised a need for change.

Like many successful organisations, they’d been so busy with success and growth, their brand needed to catch up… to better reflect who they are today, and to be contemporary and relevant.

Cloud 9 were challenged with updating Beagle’s online presence, developing a new eCommerce website that would work harder to connect with existing B2B audiences (such as the NHS), but also develop a fledgling consumer proposition, bringing them into direct contact with consumers.

Our approach

As always, our approach was to begin by getting up close and personal with Beagle, taking the time to really understand their organisation and their audiences. We explored Beagle’s objectives and their vision, their market positioning, and how best to connect with the needs of each audience segment.

Very quickly it became clear that we needed to separate the consumer proposition under its own brand, ‘Solace’, which would be designed to speak a consumer language, and also offer more consumer-led products.

With two different channels and target audiences in mind we created two distinct eCommerce websites…

Beagle

The B2B eCommerce website

In addition to reflecting a more modern and relevant brand, and their unique British-made positioning, the Beagle website had one big objective: to deliver a better user experience amongst the existing audience of healthcare professionals.

We created a site that would work both as an ‘online catalogue’, and also a support hub for NHS procurement specialists to provide instant access to product options, specifications and bespoke solutions. Easy-to-use navigation, slick functionality and doing the product justice through new, high quality imagery were all imperative.

With the move away from traditional ways of selling, combined with COVID restrictions we filmed and produced a new series of corporate videos that humanise, and underpin the values of the business. These new corporate videos included a brand introduction and short films covering each brand attribute, from custom fabrication to design expertise and manufacturing capability. By shooting bespoke photography, and creating these films we were able to really differentiate Beagle from low-cost overseas competitors that don’t offer the same quality of product or service.

Solace

The Consumer eCommerce website

We needed to work harder to launch a new brand within a relatively new segment for Beagle. It was important that this channel had a new visual identity that stood apart, and a new proposition: “The most comfortable, life enabling sports and wellbeing supports in the market today.”

The Solace eCommerce website communicates a more consumer-friendly look and feel, speaking a different language to the Beagle site through lifestyle imagery and new messaging.

Where Beagle is about orthopaedic solutions, Solace talks about ‘active lifestyle and wellbeing’. Here, brand engagement, provenance of their products, and value are all-important. Functionality is clear and simple, and social media integration helps engage audiences, keeping the site fresh.

How we made a difference

“Cloud 9 have been fantastic to work with. They’re creative thinkers who have really helped open our eyes to new ideas and looking at things differently.

They have taken the time to understand who we are and what we do, and helped translate that in a creative way. Practically, their expertise when it comes to the technical side of things and functionality has supported the whole process and helped us in the huge challenge of re-writing and inputting hundreds of technical specifications from print to website! It’s second nature to them to help as much as they can. Beagle is a customer-focused organisation and we know they share the same values.

It’s refreshing to work with an agency that’s so relaxed, open and honest, without being precious. And taking that approach early on has helped us push boundaries and achieve goals more quickly. They always aim to go one step further, and do the very best possible, pushing the boundaries of what could be done. Everyone here is thrilled with the work they’ve done and even in these early days we’ve seen a 75% increase in sales on the Beagle website alone since launch.

Cloud 9 has done us proud.”

Tom Dudley,
Marketing Executive at Beagle Orthopaedic