Martin Industries is a manufacturer and direct distributor and a leader in the tire equipment industry. For several years, the company has kept innovating and offers its B2B customers a wide range of products sold all over the world.
Challenges:
Centralize the product sales management under 1 single platform while adapting to the specificities of the international markets.
Allow categorization and product governance internally as well as international deployment
Product information at the heart of the e‑commerce experience
The parts and accessories sector has not escaped the digital transformation and many manufacturers are now betting on their own e‑commerce channel to directly distribute their products. Developing an e‑commerce platform that allows both internal product governance and an easy deployment of the product information is the mission we took up for Martins Industries.
One of the biggest issues for manufacturers is product information. Customers and distributors need to be able to find product details like dimensions, assembly instructions, etc. quickly before they even can consider purchasing them. To optimally manage their SKUs, we reviewed the flow structure and Akeneo was a natural fit for the product information management system, in order to develop a simple and efficient categorization. This work on categorization combined with a focus on UX and product presentation allows customers to easily access all necessary information, regardless of the product (spec sheet, user manual, dimension, assembly, etc.). In order to ensure that the customer can find all the answers to their questions, a FAQ has also been added per product page making it possible to remove any barriers and doubts before buying. A chatbot has also been integrated via Zendesk to relieve the pressure on customer service and add another service channel for their online experience.
Martins Industries grew internationally in recent years and developed its presence in more than 70 countries, 10 of which required a strong e‑commerce presence. To support the international sales, our experts relied on the trio of Adobe Commerce Cloud connected with Microsoft Dynamics ERP and Akeneo PIM to develop an e‑commerce platform, both capable of deploying products and information in all countries, while simplifying and centralizing their management. To that end, upstream work has been carried out from adapting to international data regulations, to manage shipments and inventory for their 5 warehouses across the world including time of delivery, taxes and currency management. The simplification of international deployment as well as the centralized management not only simplified internal operations but also increased sales, market positioning and competitiveness while remaining “”on brand””.
One of the complexities of B2B business is the varying specifics and sales conditions by type of customer. To ease customer management, our team has developed customizable customer accounts in order to adapt sales conditions, according to order volumes, and manage inventories, shipments and credit limit per client. Substantive work has been done on the search engine and SEO to support clients’ autonomy. In the industry, the product names have their very specific lingo and few users actually search products in those terms. Our team therefore focused on meta descriptions, allowing users to quickly find the products they need. Information optimization as well as a good understanding of B2B complexities have therefore made it possible to move the e‑commerce channel from accessory to essential.
At Martins, we do business with multiple types of B2B companies across the world and it was thus essential for us to offer a fast and easy-to-use e‑commerce platform and to make every single user feel that our website speaks directly to them thanks to cultural personalization. With O2 Commerce at our side, we now have both the necessary platforms and the partnership to support our growth online.
– Manuel Bisson, ecommerce specialist.
UX and product presentation to facilitate access to information
Access to product information is crucial for manufacturers. It’s the simple and effective work on categorization combined with a focus on UX classification and product presentation that allow customers to easily access all necessary information, regardless of the product (spec sheet, user manual, dimension, assembly, etc.). Also, through the robust ERP integration, our team has made it possible for users to easily check quantity in stock (PDP & PLP), delivery time and cost before the product is even added to cart. This gain in efficiency and UX allowed Martins to significantly increase their income and their average order value.
Centralization of management and international deployment
To enable our customer to simply sell their products in more than 10 countries, upstream work was done to adapt to international data regulations, to manage shipments and inventories for 5 warehouses across the world including delivery time, taxes and currency management. The simplification of international deployment as well as the centralized management not only simplified internal operations but also increased sales and competitiveness.
Customizable customer accounts
Thanks to the development of customizable accounts, the sales conditions can be quickly and easily adapted according to order volumes, and managing inventories, shipments or credit limit per client can be easily achieved without difficulties.
A successful e‑commerce experience
Putting product management at the heart of the e‑commerce experience gave Martins very successful results during the year following the launch: +68% in revenue, +50% in transactions, +15% average order value.
Growing globally
Having now the right set of tools to perform in e‑commerce, Martins Industries keep growing by targeting new markets, developing product innovation and acquiring new companies and brands, thus creating a favorable synergy and a leverage effect on developing markets.
Recently, the company acquired the consumable products for tires brand Magnum +, and has since experienced tremendous growth throughout the world.
Next project
Patrick Morin
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