Opico Group
Largest independent distributor of agricultural machinery in the UK
Industry: Agriculture - machinery
Location: Bourne, Lincolnshire
Multi-site rebuilds using a single admin area
DESIGN | UMBRACO CONTENT MANAGEMENT | BESPOKE FEATURES | HOSTING
MULTI BRAND
1 single admin area
BESPOKE
NEWS SYSTEM
BESPOKE
Operating/Parts Manuals system
1 FRAMEWORK
multiple designs
The Challenge
Opico manufactures its own range of agricultural machinery, including grain dryers, applicators and large grassland machines, while also distributing leading brands including HE-VA, Ovlac, Alpego and Farmdroid.
The original challenge was to create a suite of websites for each brand, while bringing them together within a single administration area to streamline content management and improve efficiency. Originally developed by Rade in 2016, the platform successfully supported multiple brands from one central system.
As the businesses and their visual identities evolved, the challenge became ensuring the digital platform could accommodate a major design overhaul while maintaining consistency, flexibility and straightforward management across the entire group.
Our Solution
We developed a single, efficient digital platform to manage multiple brands, using responsive master layouts based on the client’s designs. This creates a familiar user experience across the group while preserving each brand’s individual identity and colourways.
Umbraco provides the foundation, supporting multiple websites (and languages) from one installation. Shared functionality significantly reduces duplication: News content is entered once and published to selected brands, while a central dealer database uses simple brand selections to control visibility.
A dedicated Download Centre provides parametric filtering by product and model. The result is a streamlined system that maximises efficiency while giving each brand a tailored, professional online presence.
The Result
The key result was a significant improvement in efficiency across the entire brand portfolio. Managing multiple websites from a single Umbraco installation means content, dealers and resources can be maintained centrally, reducing duplication and saving valuable time.
Shared functionality allows News content and dealer information to be entered once and selectively published across relevant brands, while the Download Centre makes product literature easier for customers to find.
Despite the efficiencies behind the scenes, each brand retains its own distinctive identity and user experience.
The result is a scalable, streamlined digital platform that makes managing a growing portfolio of agricultural brands considerably simpler.
"...helpful and with a real understanding of what we were trying to achieve"
Helen Selkin, Marketing Manager
Opico Group
Largest independent distributor of agricultural machinery in the UK
Project Scope
Opico manufactures it's own range of agricultutral machinery including grain dryers, applicators and a range of large grassland machines. The company is also a distributor for a number of well-known agricutural machinery manufacturers including HE-VA, Ovlac, Alpego and Farmdroid.
Back in 2016 Rade was requested to design and build a suite of websites for each of the brands but all within one admin area for efficiency and ease of use.
More recently, all the brands have undergone a major design overhaul led by their very capable and experienced in-house design and marketing team.
Solution
We built responsive master layouts from the client's eye-catching designs which is similar across all the brands. This ensures a 'familiar' feel whilst adhering to all the respective brand's colourways.
Umbraco was the natural choice; it allows for multiple sites and even multi-lingual sites all within one base installation.
There is a bespoke News area where the content only has to input once and can then be published on whichever sites are applicable.
A Dealer look-up which works 'per brand' allowing the visitor to input their postcode which performs a 'radius search' within the locality. All dealers are put into the one system and a simple tick box dictates which site(s) the dealer is shown on.
Also a dedicated Download Centre which features a parametric filtering facility where visitors can pick their product and model. This then offers up available literature types such as Brochures, Operators Manuals, Parts manuals and Technical Information.
Profile
Founded over 50 years ago OPICO Ltd, the largest independent distributor of agricultural machinery in the UK, imports agricultural machinery to sell through a network of agricultural dealers. HE-VA, FarmDroid and more recently, Stocks AG, Alpego and Ovlac are all distributed by OPICO throughout the UK. OPICO can also be seen throughout the year at shows up and down the country.