Planners, craftsmen, traders – everyone wants to find the right product for their specific needs as easily and with as few clicks as possible. And when routes to the right product are too complicated or too long, they are rated as buying barriers. This is something everyone in the private sector has probably seen when shopping online. When you visit a page that takes too much time and doesn’t deliver the desired results, you leave it and go straight to one of the ‘big players’ next time. The Internet knows no mercy.
This is exactly what OWA had in mind when its new website was designed. A lively and inspiring website as the starting shot for a ground-breaking approach to the opportunities of digitisation in the building supplies industry.
Rather than being a simple relaunch of the old site, this website has been re-planned and designed from the ground up. The buzzwords ‘information’ and ‘inspiration’ were right at the top of the agenda.
The website went online on 14 January, just in time for the start of the BAU 2019 trade fair in Munich. A planning platform for architects and acousticians, a design platform for interior architects, an ideas platform for developers and investors, a costing platform for trade and distribution, and an information platform for applicants.
And everything in a modern look with a clear and simple navigation menu. This website sees the long-standing Odenwald-based company underline its brand position in the premium segment of acoustic design ceiling systems. The impressive large-format object images immediately captivate every creative architect and inspire them to take a closer look at the OWA brand, the core themes and the underlying product systems with curiosity and pleasure.
Geared to the information needs of the various target groups, a central element of the site is the product finder. Just a few clicks guide the user to the right product. It picks up visitors right where they stand, i.e. access is possible via various criteria, such as format, system type, functions, areas of application, product category or surface. At the destination all the main items of information about the product, e.g. product and reference photos, technical data, tender specifications and downloads to name only a few, can then be found directly on one page.
Also new and practical are integrated tools for the convenient supply of planning data with BIM/REVIT, for determining the quantity of ceiling tiles and accessories required, as well as a room acoustics calculator.
Additional versions will be added for national markets over the course of 2019.
Conclusion: OWA has made its new website into a digital business card that is contemporary, representative and has an appealing design. The strengths of the brand and the solutions offered can be clearly experienced at a glance and with fewer clicks. Well-known and easy to remember, the domain’s name remains untouched and is still www.owa.de.
The manifold prizes recently awarded to OWA are testament to the innovative power of the brand. For example, products from the OWAconsult collection have recently won at the China Good Design Award 2018, the bdia ausgesucht! 2018, the ICONIC AWARDS 2018, the Red Dot: Best of the Best (2018), iF DESIGN AWARDS 2018, the German Design Award 2018, and the MIAW. The logical consequence is that the OWAconsult collection is being continuously improved and upgraded. Among these innovations are the OWAplan and RAW product lines, as well as the introduction of new lighting elements for the modular Corpus system. These and other innovations will be presented to a specialist audience for the first time at the BAU trade fair on Stand 538 in Hall A2.