LONDON, September 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Portaltech, the leading UK eCommerce Systems Integrator and Consultancy has re-launched http://www.vanmeuwen.com and six further branded websites. Van Meuwen is part of the Thompson Morgan Group, the leading and award winning online gardening retailer.

Clare Dixey, Group eCommerce Manager for Thompson Morgan, said: Since the company was founded in 1855, our ethos has always been to lead the market by offering our customers the widest possible range of seeds and plant products, including the rare and unusual. Building on our current success, we wanted to take the business to the next level online, which required a new eCommerce platform that was stable and scalable enough to be able to support our future growth plans.

Over a period of ten months, Thompson Morgan rigorously assessed a number of the market's leading eCommerce platforms. QuickLive was recommended to Thompson Morgan as a solution that could meet its requirements: Clare Dixey said; It was a pre-requisite that the solution we chose needed to be able to grow with our pan-European and worldwide development plans. In addition, enable us to manage multiple websites at once and should also be something which we could manage and maintain easily in-house.

The QuickLive platform has been developed by Portaltech and is based on the market leading hybris Commerce solution. With rapid implementation timelines of only eight weeks; QuickLive is aimed at providing small and growing retailers with an easy-to-manage and fast to implement solution that can evolve and scale with their business. It is a multi channel platform that supports multi language and multi currency transactions, yet provides a cost effective entry point for growing retail operations.

If we had implemented an 'enterprise' technology that could address all of these requirements, the cost would have been prohibitive, but QuickLive offered us this opportunity, and was effectively managed, launched to budget and on time.

Since the launch of http://www.vanmeuwen.com at the end of May 2010, the results have been staggering. There has been a 114% uplift in conversion rates, sales have doubled and there has been a 20% increase in organic traffic. Customers are also benefiting from the improved navigation and faceting, with a 15% reduction in bounce rates and a 51% improvement in page views per visit.

Clare Dixey concluded: In Portaltech, we have discovered a partner who is forward thinking. They are able to rapidly offer and implement solutions that support our business and work with best-of-breed partner technologies. Now that web management and content has been brought under the control of Thompson Morgan, we have a more versatile, agile and reactive approach to ecommerce and trading, not to mention considerable cost reduction.

Andrew Walker, CEO of Portaltech, commented: Thompson Morgan is a company that has spent the best part of 150 years keeping ahead of the competition. They are constantly innovating and endeavouring to provide its customers with a combination of market-leading horticultural products available in the most convenient and effective shopping experience possible. We are delighted to be working with them in 2010, providing them with a best of breed solution that will underpin their future growth and maintain their lead in the market - both in the UK and internationally.

For further information and for PR or trade enquiries, please contact:

Rachel Wilkinson, Head of Brand Retail, Portaltech: Rachel.wilkinson@portaltech.co.uk , T: +44(0)207-9810023, M: +44(0)788971995

SOURCE: Portaltech

CONTACT: For further information and for PR or trade enquiries, pleasecontact: Rachel Wilkinson, Head of Brand Retail, Portaltech:Rachel.wilkinson@portaltech.co.uk , T: +44(0)207-9810023, M:+44(0)788971995.