Batavo has seen the company Douglas Hout grow over the past few years from a small timber trader into a major player in the market. From the very beginning, the two companies have been closely connected. Sebastiaan Schulting, the person responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly online, explains how this collaboration works.
I’ve been working here for about 1.5 to 2 years. When I started, I could sell, but I had no idea what all was involved in running a webshop. It was very helpful that someone from Batao was there to guide me through it in layman’s terms.”
Douglas Hout sells, as the company’s name suggests, wood. You can order wood of your choice, have it cut to size, and have it delivered. This business has grown significantly recently, especially sales through the webshop. Since Douglas Hout is a seasonal product, you want everything to work optimally during that season. If it doesn’t work properly or the server goes down, you want it fixed immediately. Every hour that the site is down is lost time and money.”
They once had this problem with the website server while it was managed by another company. “It was nice that a Batao employee noticed that our website was down, but because they weren’t the ones managing it, they couldn’t do anything about it. Even though they were the first to see the problem.”
To prevent this issue in the future, Batao is now working on a new server and Webshop 2.0 for Douglas Hout. This way, they can monitor everything related to the website and webshop and respond quickly when necessary.
The fact that the company chooses to entrust everything related to the webshop and server to Batao speaks volumes, according to Sebastiaan. ‘The great thing about Batao is that they respond quickly to the questions you have. You’re not just a number in a queue. If you have a problem, it gets looked at personally as quickly as possible. For Douglas Hout, this service is exactly what we need.’ Sebastiaan further adds that it’s nice to work with young entrepreneurs. ‘They adapt to our needs. You’ll never be told that they want to do things their way “because that’s just how they’ve always done it.” Of course, we sometimes have a difference of opinion, but we always work it out after a good discussion.’
Batao ensures that the Douglas Hout webshop operates at its peak every day. Orders are immediately processed in their ERP system (AMF Microsign), and we ensure that their system synchronizes with what should be visible on the webshop. To do this efficiently and effectively, good collaboration is essential. And according to Roy Kuiper, that collaboration is strong: ‘For us, the partnership is great. At Douglas Hout, they have a “no talk, all action” mentality. We like that too. Sebastiaan is open in communication, honest, and straightforward.’ Roy Kuiper also appreciates that Douglas Hout always has their focus on progress. ‘That’s why they’ve become so successful in what they do. And we’re glad that from the beginning, we’ve been able to contribute to this growth every day, and that we still get to do so every day.’