+44% Orders. +62% Conversions. NPS 68.

KCS Education Wins User Experience of the Year at the 2025 B2B eCommerce Awards

KCS Education, a trusted supplier of educational and business supplies since 1930, has delivered a digital transformation that blends scale, innovation, and customer focus, proving that great user experience can drive powerful commercial results across both B2B and B2C.

Over the past year, KCS has reimagined its digital platform in collaboration with development partner The Pixel, delivering a seamless experience that serves a complex customer base, from teachers and school administrators to finance teams and procurement officers.

And it’s paid off.

A Platform for Everyone, Built Around Real Use

KCS Education serves a uniquely broad audience. The revamped site was designed to be intuitive across multiple user roles, workflows, and customer types.

Whether a headteacher is buying exercise books or a finance assistant is processing POs, the platform makes complex tasks simple, offering:

• Personalised B2B and B2C journeys
• Easy registration and order workflows for new businesses outside the education sector
• Bundled products, flexible configurators, and fast search
• Transparent stock visibility, real-time delivery updates, and punchout integration

It’s a friction-free digital experience tailored to the real-world needs of educators and buyers.

The Numbers Tell the Story

The transformation wasn’t just cosmetic, it drove serious commercial growth:

• +29% in new revenue
• +44% in new orders
• +62% new customer conversion rate
• +84.6% in page views
• +7% repeat purchase rate
• -29.6% bounce rate
• Feefo: 4.8/5 (Platinum Trusted Service Award, 3 years running)
• NPS: 68
  

In an industry where digital maturity can lag, these results show what’s possible when UX, technology, and customer feedback align.

Innovation That Serves the Buyer

KCS didn’t just upgrade their site, they strategically implemented enhancements that made buying faster, smarter, and more intuitive:

• Adobe Live Search: Instant, intelligent search with synonyms and product recommendations
• Exercise Book Configurator: Guided selection for one of KCS’s highest-volume products
• Product Detail Page Redesign: Optimised templates to drive “add to basket” rates
• Punchout Integration: Smoother procurement for large institutions
• Delivery Transparency: Stock availability and lead times built into PDPs and confirmation emails

Continuous improvement was driven by customer research, usability testing, and close collaboration between KCS, The Pixel, and account managers on the front lines.

Collaboration That Scaled

Over two and a half years, the KCS and Pixel teams worked in lockstep to:

• Validate UX ideas with data
• Reuse successful components across features
• Align every release with real-world user needs
• Build a platform that is both scalable and adaptable

This agile, insight-driven approach ensured each update delivered real value, not just surface-level polish.

Setting a New Standard for B2B eCommerce

KCS Education’s achievement goes beyond smart design or clean navigation. It represents a strategic rethink of how B2B customers want, and expect, to buy:

• Fast, transparent, mobile-first
• Customised to their workflow
• Built for convenience and control
• Backed by world-class service

This is what modern B2B commerce should feel like.

Winning User Experience of the Year at the 2025 B2B eCommerce Awards is recognition of that commitment, and a sign that KCS is ready to lead the next chapter of B2B digital growth in education and beyond.

Learn more about the B2B eCommerce Awards:
https://www.b2becommerceawards.com/