An attractive display
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Cloburn International’s website makes an effective shop window for its used stock, as Webwatch finds out
Words: James Clark
Company: Cloburn International Address: www.cloburninternational.co.uk
Homepage
The homepage of Carlisle haulier Cloburn International manages to remain simple and clear without looking dated. The main navigation menu runs down the left, with a few of the key links repeated at the bottom of the page. Below the menu are Cloburn’s contact details, and on the right is a short introduction to the firm and its activities.
Product search
To access the product search, select ‘Truck Sales’ or ‘Other Sales’ in the navigation menu. At the time of writing, the ‘Other Sales’ section of the site included only two trailers, but we did find an Audi Q7 hiding among the tractor units and horseboxes in the ‘Truck Sales’ section...
Stock items are displayed five to a page – use the ‘next’ and ‘previous’ links underneath the bottom item to browse through all the stock. There is no search box or categorisation of stock, but with only a small selection listed this does not pose great difficulties.
For each item you will see a thumbnail image, a title and a brief description. Click on the ‘more details and pictures’ link under the description for, unsurprisingly, more details and pictures. If you click on any of these additional thumbnails, you will launch a pop-up gallery showing the photos in their full glory.
Although the gallery worked fine for us in most browsers, we had some display problems in Internet Explorer – the bottom of the photos disappeared off the screen. If you encounter this problem, try right-clicking on the thumbnail and selecting ‘open in new tab’ or ‘open in new window’ instead.
To enquire about an item, call the phone number listed on the product information page or click on the ‘email about this vehicle’ button and complete the short form. Price is on application only.
Likes and dislikes
We like
✓ Well-taken truck photography ✓ Easy to use on a mobile device or slower connection
We’re not sure
X Pop-up images did not display properly for us in Internet Explorer X No search functionality on the site – browse stock only
Other pages
The site includes information on Cloburn’s
haulage services – it specialises in the transport of refrigerated foods, aggregates and tar.
Although Cloburn’s postal and email addresses are displayed prominently on the homepage, you can also click through to the ‘contact’ page for a Google Map to the company’s base at Longtown, Carlisle.
The final feature is a ‘gallery’ page, displaying some of the vehicles in the smartly liveried Cloburn fleet. As with the stock list, click on any thumbnail image for a pop-up gallery (which, unfortunately, gave us the same problem as those elsewhere on the site).
It is worth noting that the site’s clear, simple design makes it easy to use on a mobile device or slower internet connection – something many dealers and operators forget.
Conclusion
A straightforward site that acts as a good introduction to Cloburn and its used offering.