Consolidated Supply increases online registered users by 157%

Consolidated Supply does ordinary things extraordinarily well

At Consolidated Supply Co. service goes far beyond the ordinary. From the moment the company opened its doors over 90 years ago, Consolidated Supply has been committed to delivering extraordinary customer service and the highest quality plumbing, heating and water works solutions to professional plumbers and utility contractors.

In an effort to continue delivering extraordinary service in an ever-evolving industry, Consolidated Supply transformed their business with Optimizely B2B Commerce Cloud.

Serving customers in the 21^st century (and competing with national players)

Consolidated Supply Co. is a company ahead of their time. As other players in the industry struggle to keep up with the pace, Consolidated Supply is setting the gold standard for seamless digital experiences in B2B. The company knew they had to deploy a digital branch or risk losing customers to national competitors.

Selecting a robust B2B eCommerce solution

Josh Schoonmaker, Consolidated Supply’s Director of Digital Solutions was hired in August 2017 to manage eCommerce. In his first two weeks in his role, he was tasked with analyzing the best solution for the company. Schoonmaker created a decision matrix with 30 different criteria to measure potential eCommerce providers against. He also valued analyst reports by leading research firms like Forrester and Gartner. Ultimately he chose the Optimizely B2B Commerce Cloud solution for a few key reasons:

• Customer success model rather than support agent
• Admin Console built with the business user in mind
• Rich B2B features built-in
• Fully functional mobile app
• Fully managed SaaS based solution
• Customizable to meet the design needs of Consolidated
• Easily integrated with Consolidated’s Eclipse ERP
• Robust content management system
• Custom pricing and catalog capabilities
• Enhanced search capabilities
• Focus on complexities of B2B

A complete paradigm shift

At Consolidated Supply, it was never just about an eCommerce website. It was about changing the way the company did business for the better. Consolidated Supply has always done whatever it takes to best serve the customer, even if that means making significant changes. 

The Optimizely B2B Commerce Cloud was able to meet 85% of Consolidated Supply’s core B2B requirements right out-of-the-box. After launching the website, Consolidated saw an increase in registration, self-service activities and productivity of their team members. Customers now have 24/7 access to pricing and availability of Consolidated’s products.

Product content as ecommerce fuel

Consolidated Supply leverages the AD eContent Service to provide the product content fuel to the B2B Commerce Cloud engine. This enables Consolidated’s customers to find what they need to find and build confidence in Consolidated’s products. The AD and Optimizely partnership enables Consolidated to increase customer self-service, take care of their own needs and power their sales team to focus on completing high value tasks through ecommerce.

Increase in efficiencies and adoption 

Since implementing Optimizely B2B Commerce Cloud, Consolidated Supply has seen an increase in customer satisfaction, online ordering and team efficiencies. Less than one year after implementing InsiteCommerce, the amount of online registered users doubled. Moreover, 18 months from launch, online registered users increased by 157%.

Consolidated recognized that eCommerce wasn’t just a project. It wasn’t something they would deploy then move away from. After the initial launch, Consolidated was receiving feedback from customers about certain struggles and questions with the website.

Three months after launch, the company set out to hire two Digital Engagement Specialists (DES) solely dedicated to building a better eCommerce website.

The DES interact directly with customers, utilizing feedback from employees and customers to improve the website and create a user-friendly experience that promotes efficiency and growth with Consolidated’s customers. The DES are focused on managing and assisting users with Consolidated’s website and mobile app and are yet another example of Consolidated’s continued focus on delivering extraordinary service. 

The team implemented weekly “Engagement Metrics” tracking that produces an Engagement Rank for every customer. Ranks include: Super, High, Standard, Low and Not Yet Digital. Since hiring the DES, Consolidated has seen more than 10 times growth of super users. In addition, Active Ordering customers (those that have ordered multiple times in the last 90 days) has increased by 146% since the DES began.

Consolidated Supply is delivering on the promise of extraordinary service with a fully functional eCommerce solution, and a dedicated team focused on continuous improvement of the site. It’s a technology-meets-human solution. And it’s setting up Consolidated Supply to serve their customers for the next 90 years.