B2B eCommerce businesses often run into problems when it comes to tracking inventory and processing orders. This was the case for one of our clients, so our team created a custom eCommerce integration to help the company modernize their website and upgrade the user experience.
eCommerce Integration: Improving B2B Operations
Our client, Perform Group, is the parent company of Curtain Call, an online B2B store that sells dance class wear and costumes for recitals. Before working with the Groove Commerce team, Perform Group ran into many issues when it came to accurately tracking inventory and processing and fulfilling orders.
The Problem
Prior to enlisting our team's help, Perform Group used outdated technology, managed their own servers in Magento, and needed a better platform to run their eCommerce solution on. They used an ERP system - the AS400 system - to track inventory; however, they struggled to accurately account for each piece of inventory.
Salespeople would call in orders; customer service would put the order down; and customers would fax in orders and place orders directly from the website. Operating in this manner caused frustrations for the sales team. The only way an order could be taken into account was when a salesperson would input the order into the AS400 system.
Inaccurate Inventory Tracking
With this, Perform Group found themselves overcommitted to orders, since they never really saw the live data or the accurate inventory amount for a given product.
For example, they only had 100 items in inventory of a specific product. However, they accepted a fax order for 50 items, while someone else ordered 100 items of the same product directly online.
This means that they sold 150 in inventory but only had 100 to sell - leaving their team extremely frustrated with the ordering process. To alleviate these frustrations and improve the overall customer experience, our team stepped in to help.
The Solution
We created a custom eCommerce integration - the AS400 Integration - which requires orders to be placed through BigCommerce, making BigCommerce the central point of sale.
Now, when a salesperson has an order, they input it into BigCommerce rather than faxing or calling about it. This allows all inventory and availability to automatically update since the BigCommerce store is wired into the AS400 system.
Since inventory automatically updates, both customers and sales representatives can now see the exact amounts in stock at any given time. This means customers can now order the amount they need without worrying about the company calling back to say the item they ordered is actually out of stock.
How We Leveraged BigCommerce
The Groove Commerce team leveraged BigCommerce to make the migration process simpler and allow Perform Group to share more product information than they have in the past with their customers.
By requiring all orders to be placed through BigCommerce, Perform Group now has a central point of transaction, and all order data that is tracked and logged is automatically pushed over into the AS400 Integration.
Faster Page Load Times
Additionally, we used BigCommerce to decrease page load times. Prior to working with our team, Perform Group's web pages would take 30 seconds to load - leading to a negative customer experience, a high bounce rate and many frustrated shoppers.
Their slow page load times were due to the fact that they were making many different phone calls, and those calls were slowing down the process of displaying information on the site. Now, after leveraging BigCommerce's functionality, the calls to their ERP are more efficient and allow the website to load almost instantly.
Inventory Updates Automatically
We also leveraged Integrator.io to allow Perform Group to talk to their systems in real time. When a customer clicks "view inventory," the eCommerce integration and ERP system work together to automatically check how much is in stock. Then, it shows that number to the shopper in seconds.
Enhanced Website Design
Finally, our client's website design is now aesthetically more pleasing and aligns with eCommerce and product page design best practices. Now, their online store far exceeds the modern expectations of online shoppers today.
Clear calls-to-action, up-sell and cross-sell opportunities and the use of promotional banners throughout the site have contributed to the enhanced website design.
The lookbook/wishlist functionality allows their customers (parents, teachers, studio owners, etc.) to navigate throughout the website and build a whole season's worth of recital outfits. Customers can see the dance attire for an entire season in one order and even save it for later.
The catalog-like design uses images and colors so that customers can browse easily through products like they would in a magazine. We even created bulk order forms on the product detail page templates to accommodate larger business-related orders.
Conclusion
The website launched on September 29, 2020, and we are anticipating an increase in online sales due to the huge improvement in user experience, website navigability and various shopping sections (like costumes, class wear, accessories and sale).
Do you need help building, designing or growing your eCommerce store? Contact us through the form below with any questions or concerns, and a member of our team will be in touch.
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