DSGi delivering the goods online – at last

After years of duff performance the websites of the DSGi group are finally being turned around under the control of the group’s new director of e-commerce.

For the past couple of years the automated testing of Sitemorse has placed the group’s websites PC World, Dixons and Currys well down the table of best-performing retail sites in the UK. But not any more as the most recent Top 50 retail website rankings shows impressive moves up the table for all three sites.

Under David Walmsley, who joined in October, the online operations have been given a full overhaul. He told me that online is the latest piece of the Transformation Programme initiated at DSGi by chief executive John Browett.

Walmsley: having big impact on DSGi websites 

The three sites have been re-designed, new order processing systems introduced, and a new trading platform went live in February. The results have been dramatic (take a look at the table on the above link) – Curry’s moved up 36 places, PC World up 28 places, and Dixons advanced 19 places, which puts all three in the top 11.

Despite this succces, Walmsley says the changes have merely “brought us up to the starting line”. He reckons all he’s done is introduce “good shop keeping practices” to online – which simply means an end to broken links, checkouts that don’t work, poor accessibility, and an overall weak shopping experience.

The fact he understands that these sorts of things need to be addressed bodes well for DSGi because it shows the group has somebody running its online operation who knows what they are doing. Too many retailers continue to fail on these very basic aspects of online retailing and fail their customers badly.