Success Story Manufacturing

Manufacturing Solution Distributor Grows Organic Sales With New Ecommerce Platform

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This company is a leader in the distribution of industrial automation and control products with a focus on the OEM and MRO marketplace.

They put customers’ changing needs at the center of their business approach and offer the highest quality parts, services and end-to-end solutions. But the business was facing some challenges. As it grew its online business, its legacy eCommerce platform required significant manual intervention, disrupting sales channels and customer loyalty. Apexon stepped in to create a flexible, information-rich structure that enabled it to quickly adapt to shifts in market demand.

  • Founded in 1919

  • 17 Midwest distribution locations

  • Over $20M in active inventory

the Results

Key Outcomes

INCREASED YEAR-ON-YEAR ORGANIC ONLINE SALES

CUSTOMIZED USER REGISTRATION FLOW FOR NEW & EXISTING CLIENTS

INCREASED CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

The challenge

POOR SYSTEM INTEGRATION & DISRUPTED WORKFLOWS

As the company’s online sales volume grew, it found it difficult to maintain the same high level of performance and service. Lengthy turnaround times for minor modifications, a lack of segmentation, and a choppy user workflow disrupted the customer experience (CX).

There were several underlying problems:

Its eCommerce and ERP systems were at parity, making it difficult to manage real-time information updates

Modified price quotes from its Eclipse ERP platform needed to be changed manually on the eCommerce portal

The lack of third-party product configuration limited product options for customers

There was no product segmentation capability in place for product display, shopping, and catalogue management

The incremental import of product data caused an over-utilization of resources and bottlenecks in core functions

Prior system modifications had adversely affected SEO rankings, hurting online traffic

None of the workflows were able to track and optimize customer movement across the platform

The Solution

INTEGRATING DISPARATE FUNCTIONS INTO A COHESIVE CX ON OPTIMIZELY

Apexon began with a comprehensive implementation of the Optimizely (formerly Insite) Cloud Commerce platform. The engagement included revamping the site UX design and creating touchpoints for enhanced CX. The team took a client-centric viewpoint to integrate the disparate distributed functions into a singular environment.

Specific solution features and capabilities included:

Integration of Optimizely with the client’s Eclipse ERP system for auto sync of product, customer, user, pricing, tax and shipping details

Added support for multiple customer part numbers, reinforcing the client’s solution configuration and aggregation capabilities

Customized Google Tag Manager for every minute user tracking – in addition to Google’s out-of-the-box features

Unified PunchOut2Go, supporting changes to initial proposals and modified quotes

Streamlining of all content to match SEO and structured data requirements through Google Merchant Centre

Installation of EZ Selector to guide customers directly through a manufacturing number

Automated the import of Product Enrichment Data from the Affiliate Distributors Group

Outcomes

With Apexon and Optimizely, the client was able to align their eCommerce capability with their business objectives and brand promise. The result was:

Increased year-on-year organic sales through the platform

Customized user registration flow for new and existing clientele

Stronger customer satisfaction

High performance SEO rankings post-migration