Increasingly, tools are being bought directly from websites that can take orders and apply individual customer and quantity discounts. It is a familiar enough scenario: you have an account or you create one with the supplier. Stonetools is the latest specialist supplier of tools and consumables to have updated its website – or in its case, two websites, because it has one exclusively for Ireland as well as one for the UK (www.stonetools.co.uk and www.stonetools.ie).
Both are easy to use, fully commercial sites with all the tools, consumables and knowledge that stone workers need.
Intuitive design and search features allow visitors to navigate the site quickly. The company’s full product range can be viewed, including diamond tools for power tools and CNC machines, abrasives, power tools themselves and chemicals.
More than 750 extra products have been added to the company’s range for the new websites. Highlights include the Nicolai ProGlo edge polishing discs.
The sites display real-time stock availability and shipping dates so customers can plan ahead. The sites are driven by the same live data that the Stonetools team use to advise customers over the phone, but now this is displayed online.
By creating an account, users can see all aspects of their account with Stonetools. Payments, purchases, returns, invoices, statements and support cases can be viewed and created from one area.
Orders can be placed quickly whenever the customer chooses. Product codes and quantities can be added to a basket and previous orders can be retrieved in seconds. Stonetools has used past order history from its customers to set up tool lists organised into product categories that include products previously purchased by that customer. They can be modified by the customer and downloaded, shared or emailed at a chosen frequency to help prompt stock checking and avoid running out.
Product information is rich in detail, with information clearly presented and specifics quickly accessed. CNC product listings from Diamut and Marmoelettromeccanica, for example, display recommended sequences, guiding buyers through the options with expert advice, images and videos. PDF downloads such as safety data sheets, technical data sheets and colour charts are readily available. There is a ‘resources zone’ of reference articles, how-to guides and troubleshooting information, even UK Health & Safety Executive publications on all aspects of stone working. Stonetools says even more features will be added in the months ahead. If security concerns you, Stonetools says its sites use the same level of data encryption as those of banks.
However, if you are really railing against the fourth industrial revolution you can still phone Stonetools and place your order that way.