Toolstop has been focused on supplying tradespeople with tools from the best brands at competitive prices and fast delivery since 1965. They have always had the same goal, to serve their customers better than anyone else.
Their customer focused service has seen them become one of the largest online suppliers of power tools in the UK. And, at the heart of this, is their approach to payments. Partnering with Checkout.com in November 2020 they’ve already seen great improvement to their customer experience and recognise an increase in revenue as a result.
The first step in solving a problem is knowing you have one. That was the challenge facing Toolstop. The company was losing significant online sales every month because it couldn't process certain credit card purchases. The problem had gone unnoticed, until a batch of test orders was put through the website. “We were literally leaving money on the table,” explains Neil Bruce, Toolstop’s Ecommerce Manager.
Weeks later, the problem persisted. “We had reported the issue to our previous provider, but they couldn't fix it. They just couldn’t get to grips with what was going wrong.”
Toolstop was introduced to Checkout.com by their ecommerce platform provider BigCommerce. Checkout.com quickly diagnosed the problem and fixed the issue, and became Toolstop’s long term payment partner. The impact was immediate. Since going live with Checkout.com in November 2020, Toolstop is bringing in thousands of pounds extra revenue per month, as a result of an improved customer experience.
“The speed of checkout has drastically increased since switching over, this is unlocking an average of £22k extra revenue per month” Bruce estimates. With Checkout.com’s domestic acquiring capabilities in the UK and expert support, Toolstop has also seen a dramatic increase in their acceptance rates. “We’ve seen our acceptance rates grow by 19%, this is largely down to Checkout.com’s pro-active support and direct connections with local schemes, banks and issuers in the UK.” Bruce adds.
Checkout.com is natively integrated with BigCommerce, ensuring the payment stage is a seamless step in the shopping journey. Checkout.com’s unified payments API means Toolstop now has an all-in-one provider – removing their reliance on third parties. “Fewer parties means less complexity,” explains Bruce. “So there’s more understanding about what’s going on under the hood of the payment system. Not only do issues get identified and fixed earlier, but we can see where there are opportunities for optimization.”
But opportunities mean little if you don’t act on them. For Bruce, the proactiveness of Checkout.com’s support team has been a big gamechanger. “Onboarding was fast and seamless. And we’ve quickly established a close relationship with our Customer Support Manager, who’s located in the UK and we can contact directly anytime. It all feels a much more personal service.”
Part of Toolstop’s success is allowing customers to pay the way that they want. “With Checkout.com we are able to offer even more payment methods from international credit and debit cards, to digital wallets and local schemes.”
Speed and payment options are all part of improving the user journey and Toolstop is focused on making the consumer experience as seamless as possible. “Partnering with Checkout.com has improved our user experience, which generates more revenue. The insights into which payment methods are popular in our core market and with different demographics. And we’d never have the time to research this ourselves. They provide that expertise because they have feet on the ground in the markets. They know what’s really going on.”
“It is this combination of Checkout.com’s breadth of capabilities, brought together in a unified platform, and the deep expertise and on the ground support, that marks them out from other payment providers”, says Bruce. “And if the first year so far is anything to go by, it’s a partnership that is set to thrive.”
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