Jewson. Driving Digital Transformation in the Building Trade Sector

Image credit: Stark Building Materials UK

The Challenge

I was hired into a newly formed digital leadership team to lead the content and product experience strategy for Jewson’s first ecommerce platform. This marked a major transformation for the established building trade brand as it entered the digital space. I recruited and built a new team from the ground up to deliver the content and data foundations for the platform — including UX writing, content design, and product data enrichment.

Our aim was to create a seamless online experience for busy trade customers, simplify complex product journeys, and scale a platform capable of driving digital growth. Then, when the COVID-19 lockdown hit and stores were forced to close, this platform became a business-critical channel for customer service and continuity — pushing us to launch three months ahead of schedule in March 2020.

The Obstacles

• Legacy Content and Data: Product data was spread across multiple systems and inconsistent across brands and categories.

• Scale: We needed to enrich over 100,000 SKUs, standardise content, and manage complex trade-specific product relationships.

• Time Pressure: The COVID-19 lockdown forced us to accelerate delivery to maintain trading while branches were closed.

• Team Build and Governance: I had to establish new processes, recruit a team, and implement governance from scratch to support long-term content operations.

The Approach

• Team Leadership: I built and led the PIM enrichment team, including offshore content creators, and implemented structured workflows and SOPs to ensure quality and scalability.

• Content and Taxonomy Strategy: Designed and implemented new taxonomy and search-driven navigation to reduce friction and support complex trade user needs.

• AI-Driven Personalisation: Integrated Bloomreach for personalised search and merchandising, driving a 40% uplift in conversion in H1.

• PIM Ownership (Stibo): I owned the product information management process, system integration, and supplier engagement — enriching 100,000+ SKUs and managing product images through Asset Bank.

• Customer-Centric Decisions: Used customer segmentation and behavioural data to inform content strategy, messaging, and prioritisation.

• CRO and Iteration: Led a programme of iterative testing to improve messaging, navigation, and content engagement across the platform.

The People Behind the Success

This was a team effort from the start. I recruited and onboarded a new in-house team of content designers, product data specialists, and UX writers — building a collaborative culture that blended creativity, technical precision, and trade knowledge. I also led the offshore content enrichment team, putting in place clear processes, training, and feedback loops to ensure quality at scale.

Cross-functional collaboration was key: we worked closely with ecommerce, development, SEO, and merchandising teams to ensure every decision supported both the customer and the business. I also built strong relationships with product suppliers to improve the quality and consistency of incoming product data.

The Outcome

• Launched Ahead of Schedule: Delivered the ecommerce platform three months early in response to COVID-19 — ensuring critical business continuity.

• Search Conversion Up 40%: Personalisation and data enrichment resulted in a major uplift in conversion across key categories.

• Customer Engagement: Improved UX, taxonomy, and content clarity increased session depth and time on site for logged-in trade customers.

• Scalable PIM Processes: Created a structured, scalable product data model with supplier input, governance, and long-term operational support.

• Digital Culture Shift: The success of this project helped shift the organisation’s culture to prioritise digital as a core channel for both sales and service.

• Revenue Impact: The platform exceeded its first-year revenue forecast by 200%, demonstrating the commercial value of the transformation.

Conclusion

This was a transformational project for Jewson, and one of the most impactful leadership roles of my career. It combined rapid delivery with long-term strategic thinking, and I’m proud of how we adapted under pressure, delivered early, and set the foundation for ongoing ecommerce growth in the building trade.