News - New Butler Website Provides One-Stop Shopping For Three Brands

HOMEWORLD BUSINESS MAGAZINE

MARLBOROUGH, MA— Butler Home Products has taken the wraps off a new website designed to deliver added synergies between its Butler, Mr. Clean and Dawn branded cleaning tool business and make it simpler and more user friendly for consumers looking to purchase products not available in their local stores.

“We had a dedicated Butler site, a dedicated Mr. Clean tools site and when we were getting ready to create a dedicated Dawn site we decided to roll them all together and create cleanerhomeliving.com,” said Michael Silverman, Butler vp/marketing. “This is the umbrella site for all three brands and all three sites: thebutler.com, mrcleantools.com and dawnkitchen.com.”

Typing in any one of the three above website addresses brings consumers to the cleanerhomeliving.com site where they can find the answers to frequently asked questions, information on product usage, warranty information and, of course, purchase products.

For example, “Sales is not the primary purpose,” said Silverman. “We wanted to be able to add cleaning tips, FAQs and put up our Merchandise Safety Data Sheets. For example, consumers can find information on caring for hardwood floors, keeping shower walls clean or prepping their floor prior to mopping. There is also a section for links that can bring users to the Procter & Gamble site, Parenting magazine site or Home Made Simple, a site offering a wide range of organization, cleaning and lifestyle tips for consumers.

Additionally, it was really time to update the site.”

Silverman noted that the company rolled out its first site nearly a decade ago and had done some refreshing of the site, “six or seven years ago.”

Improvements in technology, including the ability for the company to more easily manage content without the use of third party providers helped provide the impetus for changes. “The technology has progressed significantly in the last several years,” said Silverman.

The company has also looked to make it easier for consumers to purchase product on the site, including linking the shopping carts for all three sub-sites; a process that would have required consumers to move back and forth from each individual site with its previous design.

“We’re not looking to build our sales or to draw consumers away from our retail partners,” Silverman emphasized. “But if someone’s bought a Mr. Clean product and wants an additional one or a refill that they can’t find in their local store, we want to make it easier for them to do that.”

Product pricing on the site is higher than those consumers will find at any of their local retailers carrying Mr. Clean, Butler or Dawn branded cleaning tools. The company also charges for shipping, although it has adjusted that process as well with the new site design. According to Silverman, the company charges a flat $3.99 rate for shipping, whether the consumer purchases one product or a dozen. “It makes it easier from a cost standpoint and encourages people to buy more because they can more easily amortize the cost,” Silverman said.

At present, the new site does not link to those sites of the company’s retailers, although that capability may be added at some point in the future.