B2B with Magento: 10 inspirational successes

13.02.2019 Angelika Siczek
b2b stores open on the devices

Why does cooperation between companies differ from cooperation with an individual client? B2B store transactions often require a more elaborate business solution than in the case of B2C. The e-commerce platforms adopted must be appropriately prepared to accept complex orders, care for user experience, accounting, invoicing and data storage. Sometimes B2B platforms unite with the systems of other entities, including suppliers and logistics partners. This allows for effective management of the purchase, storage, and distribution of the assortment.

Remember that a good website and well-prepared content do not guarantee success in e-commerce. Everything starts with planning a marketing strategy and choosing the right sales platform. Then there comes the time to present your products and build brand awareness. That is why the future of your B2B business depends heavily on the choice of the e-commerce platform and its professional service.

Where to get insight on how to succeed? You can find the most inspiration by watching others. Learn about the stories of 10 brands that have evolved their business impressively through the e-commerce platform.

A logical toy that conquered the world

Although the Rubik’s Cube has been around for 45 years, it still remains on the top and it’s hard to find a person who has not heard of its existence. This puzzle is known in almost every country around the world. Where did the fame come from? Thanks to the right decision of Rubik’s company to start selling products online. It was the presence of the company on the B2B platform that enabled it to expand its operations on the international market.

Logiczna zabawka, która podbiła świat
Source: magento.com

When choosing the right software, specialists from Rubik’s sought a solution that would perfectly fit their needs. After the analysis, they decided to use Magento Commerce 2. The choice proved to be correct. Within the next four months, the company completely revolutionized its sales methods. Customer Experience was renewed so that the site became fully user-friendly. The simple catalog system has evolved into a more interactive one. Customers have gained access to more ways to distribute toys. New descriptions of categories and products made it easier for users to find desired articles. The purchase process and its verification were modernized, as well as other functions that significantly facilitated the service and use of the store.

In the UK, Rubik’s income increased by 150 percent in the first six months after the founding of Magento B2B. And the conversion rate has doubled in comparison to the situation before. It is a great example of how important it is to care for the development of online business. Most importantly the selection of an appropriate sales platform that will facilitate transactions both for distributors and clients gained value.

Expansion of Hewlett-Packard

Well-known not only in Poland, HP manufactures computers, workstations, and printers for larger companies and individual consumers. HP started its activity in Asia. When it decided to enter the international market, it chose to open five online stores. Nevertheless, before starting the first one, it set one necessary condition – an e-commerce platform, which they had to choose to support them, it had to be modern and at the same time adapted to the requirements of local users and their culture.

Ekspansja Hewlett – Packard
Source: magento.com

HP decided to use Magento Commerce services. They chose a platform that enabled them to have many stores in various places around the world. It also provided the best access to site navigation, transparent website design templates, and an on-site security guarantee. Even so, the beginnings were not simple, there were many challenges. Especially regarding payment processes and translation of foreign language content. Fortunately, the specific Magento B2B platform facilitated the process of adapting the store to the requirements of a given country. Thanks to this, HP could quickly enjoy the expected profit.

What was the effect of the successful investment made by HP? Many satisfied clients who thanks to a well-suited platform preferred shopping online than buying in a stationary store.

Selco and improved construction projects

Selco Builders Warehouse is a British brand offering building and finishing materials for the home. As a B2B company that values development in the digital space, it used the Magento Commerce platform in its online store.

Selco i usprawnione projekty budowlane
Source: magento.com
 

What was Selco’s main goal? Facilitating shopping and saving the time of their clients. Therefore, a special Project Tool application was created to help users find what they need. In addition, the application has improved the work of the company team. Thanks to it, sellers could easily manage individual projects, find a product online and communicate with the rest of the staff.

What was the basis for Selco’s success? They were the first ones in their branch of business to notice something was missing on the market and decided to fill it. Thanks to investing in new technologies they generated over 600 000 visits on their website. The sales started to increase and most importantly they satisfied their clients’ needs.

Bauhaus – B2B Empire

Bauhaus is a German trading company that can be compared to well-known in Poland Castorama or Leroy Merlin. The offer includes high-quality construction materials for renovations, interior design, and gardening. 25 stationary Bauhaus stores can be found across Europe.

Imperium B2B Bauhausu
Source: magento.com

 

Their Magento adventure began back in 2011. That’s when Bauhaus’ first B2B store was opened. That step turned out to be a great decision. Bauhaus grew and increased its assortment by over 50 thousand products. And because of introducing online sales the company had a 296 percent increase in income (2015).

Long-term work on online activities largely increased the store’s reach and conversion was increased by 376 percent. The Bauhaus example shows that taking the time to adapt to new technologies and exploring the potential online shopping platforms offer brings huge profits.

Watsco and their cooling B2B solution

On a hot summer day, you usually look for a way to cool down quickly. You buy some delicious ice cream or turn on the air conditioning. But if the hot temperature regards your business, you need immediate cooling. That “cooling” for a US air conditioning distributor turned out to be starting an online activity.

Watsco i ich chłodzące rozwiązanie B2B
Source: magento.com

Taking into account the complexity of their services: ordering and installing heating devices, delivery services for partners and most of all a quick sales realization they definitely needed a multi-layer solution. A B2B platform needed to have the right resources to manage the multitasking, be supported by professionals that knew the topic very well and be prepared for all innovations.

Magento met all expectations. The B2B e-commerce strategy used by Watscogave a 50 percent increase each year. It caused a company expansion to over 500 locations and ensured over 900 million dollars profit.

Disappearing problems of VINKS VTS

VINK VTS is a company from the B2B sector delivering a wide variety of plastics for the construction, production, medical, transport, automotive and many more industries.

Znikające problemy Vink VTS
Source: magento.com

When they dominated the market with their activity, they had over 120 000 stationary and online clients. They were forced to find a new solution that would match their needs. They wanted to provide better customer service and a more intuitive website. Income increase was equally important.

They gave up on the previous platform and decided to use a more multi-layered solution. Therefore, they created a new Magento Commerce platform. It enabled the B2B clients to overlook the delivery, realize orders and create online invoices in real time. The change of the e-commerce platform allowed VINK VTS for higher flexibility with approaching issues and suiting the user better. As a result, the order rate grew by 106 percent and the orders made telephonically changed to being done online.

7. Doubled sales of Rubie’s costumes

Have you ever dressed us as your favorite superhero or a movie character? If so, there is a huge possibility that you were wearing one of the costumes made by Rubie’s. It’s the world largest manufacturer of licensed consumes which absolutely dominated the industry.

Zdwojona sprzedaż kostiumów Rubie’s
Source: magento.com

It turned out that Rubie’s clients mostly order the costumes online and therefore, the platform became the most important selling tool. During the analysis of the situation and improving the strategies and thanks to implementing Magento e-commerce, they managed to get to an even higher number of stores and factories.

Taking care of user experience and making the buying process much quicker allowed the company to double its yearly orders and have higher profits every year.

8.    Steelcase – a modern spirit

Can an e-commerce platform be an obstacle? It can happen sometimes. There may be various reasons behind it. A bad backend team, limited functions, slow site or difficult scaling – so the problem with taking a new and higher amount of data. Luckily Steelcase, a B2B company in the office furniture industry quickly diagnosed the issue and decided to change something. It needed a different platform – flexible and modern.

Steelcase – w duchu nowoczesności
Source: magento.com

Because Steelcase has clients of a different size and works with a wide variety it was important that their e-commerce platform had a wide variety of products to order and many ways of ordering. Choosing Magento meant having 25 billiards storage units SKU (identifications to manage certain merchandise) widening to 1000 new B2B services.

Such a result fulfilled all needs Steelcase had. It allowed the company to present a complex offer to clients in a friendly and easy-to-understand way. Most of all it perfectly fitted the image of the company fulfilling the modern standards.

Pleasant experience with Intelligentsia’s Coffee

Nothing wakes you up as good as a cup of coffee in the morning. Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea – a coffee distributor from Chicago knows that well!

Przyjemne doświadczenia z kawą Intelligentsia
Source: magento.com

Because besides the B2B sector, Intelligentsia works also with individual clients (B2C) it also needed an e-commerce platform which would manage all kinds of orders and at the same time cared about user experience. To connect wholesales and retail sales the company worked out a system of catalogs linking all products. It made shopping and client service more efficient. Later, when Intelligentsia decided to use Magento Commerce it managed to easily integrate the new platform with the existing systems.

A friendly website layout, a simplified shopping process, and positive impressions led to a 16% rise in the number of mobile transactions. It constituted 40% rise in all company income. And additionally, the conversion rate grew by 20% which also shows what a smart step was made by Intelligentsia.

Rainbow Treecare and international market

Rainbow Treecare is a company taking care of trees and bushes. During an intense business bloom, the company decided to conquer the international market. To do that as best as possible they used the potential of Magento Commerce 2.2.

Rainbow Treecare i rynek międzynarodowy
Source: magento.com

Working in the B2B sector of the company Rainbow Treecare was mainly distributing professional products to protect plants for gardeners and governmental green departments. When it turned out that their products find its niche on other markets they invested in technology development and online orders.

The main goal of their new e-commerce platform was preventing communication (API) between all systems so that the information about a client, product and order went to one place. IT was also important to enable online payments.

Thanks to Magento a modern website allowed Rainbow Treecare to access new markets. It enabled taking more orders and allowed an increase in income.

How do you succeed in online sales market?

The success of the presented brands consisted of choosing the right e-commerce platform, improving communication between various systems and developing the right marketing strategy. In the B2B sector, what counts above all is following the changing trends, solving problems and offering new values to clients. Nowadays, only the product is not sold. And the selection of the store is determined by a number of factors related to the experiences that users derive from contact with the e-commerce platform. If your B2B store provides customers with easy and pleasant shopping, they will certainly come back to you for more.

Source: https://magento.com/blog/small-business/b2b-ecommerce-10-case-studies-inspire-you

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