Slim Bestraten

In 2012 I was connected by a developer friend to the owner of slimbestraten.nl. It doesn’t seem that long ago, though at the time the most fancy laptops were about 5cm ‘thin’ and had a blu-ray burner. Just saying.

At this time, slimbestraten.nl was a non-responsive website complete with quasi web 2.0 styling, a horrible colour scheme, missing images and incomprehensible UX. I was asked to help redesign the website as ambitions were high: becoming number 1 in the market and create the ultimate experience for anyone with garden pavement needs.

This project was in need of it all: a rebrand, a new structure, UX, UI, front-end and backend redesign. There were no digital marketing activities yet, but they were coming. We needed landing pages, clear product information, streamlined workflows for purchasing funnels, retargeting, segmentation, you name it. Luckily, there was a specialist for the marketing part. Also a front-end developer and a back-end developer were available, so I could completely focus on design.

The digital platform needed a complete overhaul. I literally started from scratch. After figuring out the quirks in the order process for this market, I created a completely new information architecture. This encompassed an onboarding for new customers, a clear structure for different types of products and a clear ordering and checkout process.

After setting up the structure for the website, I started translating the information architecture to logical UX, striking a fine balance between an inspirational website, strict e-commerce conventions and an SEO optimised platform.

Special products, bespoke ordering process

Most orders contained large amounts of heavy stone products. These are not products that are sent out over mail. Slimbestraten.nl has their own delivery trucks which are huge machines. A lot of prerequisites needed to be taken into account in the ordering process to make delivery and fulfilment run smoothly.

Extra attention was paid to the checkout process. We ensured a smooth checkout by extensively testing with customers. As our research showed that most orders were one-offs we tailored the process accordingly.

Also, returning products had been a headache. Together we invested in the customer service value proposition. This also meant that the supply chain organisation needed to change. As lines were kept short, we did manage to optimise it and made customer satisfaction on Trustpilot rise to a 4.9 out of 5 score.

After launch of the platform in 2013, I helped the team with running the website, optimising some quirks and make design decisions for a short period of time.

In 2021, I was once again commissioned to create a subtle redesign for the website. It had been running flawlessly for almost 10 years. Business had grown explosively and the website was ready to be rebuilt. Different from the previous attempt, we now had loads of customer behavioural data and insights to steer us into the right direction immediately.

The biggest UX issue to tackle was product search and selection. The audience had shifted to more mobile use, so more emphasis was put on a mobile first experience.

Although it was quite a challenge to fit a giant selection and filter menu in the product overview on devices with little screen real estate, we took an iterative approach and, in close collaboration with the front-end developer, we managed to create UX that fit perfectly.

In 2025, Slim Bestraten entered a new phase. After becoming the largest online retail outlet for paving products in the Netherlands, it was time to conquer the rest of Europe. With the launch of terrassendeal.de, the first steps were taken.