Wolferman’s is a maker of specialty and gourmet foods known for its delicious english muffins, scones and crumpets. Unfortunately, its Web site was so slow it was giving customers – and Wolferman’s top management – heartburn.

In fact, the site virtually ground to a halt when hit with the typical demands made during the holidays. Faced with slow access, little information as to items in stock and other details, and sluggish order systems, Wolferman’s customers frequently chose to just abandon the site. The company estimated that site abandonments were costing it nearly $500,000 a season.

“The market we’re in is highly competitive,” said John Butorac, divisional vice president at Wolferman’s. “When people start abandoning their shopping carts because it takes minutes instead of seconds to order our english muffins online, you’re not going to stay in business very long.”

With consulting help from eOneGroup, an IBM business partner in Omaha, Neb., Wolferman’s completely revamped its site and the back-end processes supporting it. The company implemented eOneCommerce, an enterprise e-commerce engine that runs on IBM’s WebSphere application server and DB2 database. Additionally, the company opted to host the site with Omaha-based plaNet Consulting, enabling it to offload day-to-day maintenance.

The result is a faster, more pleasant online shopping experience for Wolferman’s customers. Before the revamp, customers had problems finding items and checking availability. Now, the site is more reliable and customers can access immediate, accurate product availability information. They can also place orders, review previous requests and track shipments, all in real time. And the site has no problems handling the increased demands of the holidays.

"The IBM solution has transformed our Internet business," Butorac said. "We were losing customers due to frustration, but now we&singlequot;re getting e-mails from customers who rave about shopping on the Wolferman&singlequot;s site.”

And not only has the new site stemmed the loss of some $500,000 during the holidays, but it has also encouraged more customers to shop online, saving Wolferman’s between $250,000 to $300,000. This is because purchases made online are less costly -- in terms of administration and order fulfillment costs -- for the company to handle than those made through its catalog call centers.

"A typical order placed with our call center costs between $4 and $5 to process," Butorac said. "But when customers go through our new Web site, the cost goes down to as low as $1.50 per order. That adds up to between $250,000 and $300,000 a year in savings."