Frederik Meijer Gardens Case Study

Web Application Sales Tool & Real-Time Quote Generator

Client Goals & Project Objectives

Wallside needed a custom app to support their sales team in the field. While visiting on-site with a customer, the rep would need to be able to add windows to a quote, enter measurements for each product, and get an accurate estimate of the project including products and labor. This app would replace the handwritten form that had been used for years.

The Challenges

Needed to be easy to use on a tablet device to allow salespeople to enter all the necessary specs and measurements while walking through the home and interacting with the prospective customer.
Needed to include all of the possible variations of each product, and be quick to load so there wasn’t excessive page loading time during the sales call.

Company Overview

Founded as a home-improvement business in 1944, Wallside Windows is a family-owned business with a reputation for treating customers and employees like family. They manufacture the windows in their own factory instead of reselling other manufacturers’ products.

In the early 1970s, as energy prices soared and the government offered tax incentives for conservation, Wallside Windows began manufacturing vinyl replacement windows. Vinyl was more energy efficient than wood, easier to install and maintain, and it had a long life. Wallside Windows now operates from a 72,000-square-foot factory in Taylor, just east of the Detroit Metro Airport. With about 140 employees and hundreds more contractors, it is one of the largest window manufacturing and home improvement companies in the United States.

Industry Overview

The Window Provider and Installer industry manufacture and distributes windows, window frames, and window installation services. The industry has undergone significant consolidation in recent years, with the top four companies accounting for more than 50% of revenue. Revenue growth is expected to be modest over the next five years as the market becomes increasingly saturated. Key players in the industry include Andersen Corporation, Jeld-Wen, Marvin Windows and Doors, and Milgard Manufacturing.

Location

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Industry

Tourism & Hospitality

Website

www.meijergardens.org

Let's Get Started Today!

Let's Talk!

Our Approach & Solutions

Learning the Estimation Process

The designers and developers visited the Wallside factory to become more familiar with the manufacturing process, and then accompanied a sales rep on a call to watch each of the steps during the estimation. We then learned more about the products themselves, and the wide variety of options and specifications that could be built into each item.

Web-Based Application

Built-in React, the web-based application was designed to be simple and fast to load. Products are selected from an easy-to-scan menu of large icons and the user is led through the configuration of size and specs for each type of window. For each window product, logic is built into the code so that sizes or specs are not allowed if they fall outside manufacturing parameters.

“Magic Window” Configurator

Because Wallside manufactures its own products, they are capable of creating and building extremely custom window walls as well as standard sizes. This means any number, shape, and size of windows can be combined to create a custom window solution. Fusionary refers to this internally as the “Magic Window” configurator project because it allows the user to drag and drop any type of window into a grid of any size and maintain manufacturing parameters and accurate pricing.

Project Highlights

The app is now being used in the field by all sales staff, providing them with the tool they need to complete a sales quote in the field on the fly.
The roadmap includes new features like integrations with a CRM & a new ERP system to help reps complete the full sales process, from sales calls to signed contracts to manufacturing to online payment.