At Tool King, tweaking content management helps build sales

By tweaking its product images and other content to make they’re more useful to shoppers – many still using dial-up web access slowed by rich content – Tool King has helped to increase its sales conversion rate on ToolKing.com by 25% over the last few months, managing partner Don Cohen tells InternetRetailer.com.

Tool King, working with content management system provider Context Media Inc., follows a strategy of constantly reviewing how it can improve the way its content appears to shoppers and minimizes page download times, Cohen says. "Waiting too long for a page to download could make shoppers click to another site," he says.

In some cases, Tool King, a retailer of tools and other home improvement products and No. 151 in Internet Retailer’sTop 300 Guide to online retailers, has found that pages contained too many colors and too much product content, raising concerns that busy pages could overwhelm new customers, Cohen adds.

The content management endeavor has become crucial to Tool King’s growth strategy, as it continues to grow online in the U.S. and foreign markets and adds about 100 products per day to its site. "We have about 8,000 products now and plan to have 15,000 in about six months," Cohen says.