ACME Supplies

  • +150% online transactions
  • +16.5% new web accounts
Acme is the exclusive New Zealand importer and distributor of major international brands of superior-quality office products and hand tools. To create a leading digital experience for their customers, we worked with the team to redesign the end-to-end journey of their B2B e-commerce platform and ensured optimum usability and customer satisfaction.
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The Challenge

As one of New Zealand's leading wholesalers, Acme had an ageing website that needed to keep pace with its growth and the fast-changing expectations of a B2B customer. Due to the limited functionalities of their old site, many customers were diverting to making their orders over the phone, putting significant strain on the customer service team.

The Approach

Our goal for this project was function over form, having accurate product information, adding automation and enabling smooth and fast customer purchasing.
1

Discovery

We held workshops to better understand the business itself, its customer types, and its goals for the new website. Working with the customer services team gave us a deeper understanding of shopper habits and generated solutions to common pain points.
2

B2B E-commerce

B2B buyers differ from B2C consumers in many ways, from differing motivators, frequency, billing and size of purchase, to delivery needs; our solution needed to be customised to corporates, retail chains, and SMEs.
3

Operational efficiency

A priority of the project was to reduce the amount of simple, repetitive customer support workload and enable buyers to access the information they need on the website or members-only buyer portal. We also explored automation and integration opportunities that make transacting with Acme more streamlined and convenient.

Design and Experience (UI/UX)

Taking a customer-centric approach to User Interface and Experience (UI/ UX) design, our solution focuses on resolving the pain points of a B2B buyer. We first prioritised navigation and easy access to product information and orientated a "3-clicks max" principle to UI. Products were displayed by brands and categories, and the customised search bar was positioned front and centre with the ability to explore by product name, keywords or SKU.

B2B buyers are often time-poor, and we've designed a range of convenient features for Acme members. This includes enabling Quick Order, Multi-cart, and Instant Buy features that make purchasing a breeze.

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Digital Product and Development

To meet the needs of the modern B2B buyer, we explored a range of integrations that improves customer experience and reduces staff workload through automated processes.
We implemented a two-way ERP integration, enabling real-time visibility of stock levels for Acme customers and more accurate demand forecasting for procurement. It also reduced the workload for marketing and customer support, as new products and SKU-level information are automatically added to the web catalogue as they are stocked by the warehouse team.

In the customer portal, we created a custom 'multi-cart' system which allowed enterprise customers to purchase for multiple accounts easily. This helps reduce admin time for the B2B buyer, whilst simplifying purchase orders and invoicing. For customers that prefer to buy the traditional way, the quick order system allows customers to simply upload a CSV instead of shopping online.

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Conversion Automated

Impact

Since the launch of Acme's new website, we've seen operational efficiency in customer support, an 150% increase in online transactions, plus a 16.5% growth in web-based accounts. The project's overall success encouraged Acme to digitise more of its processes, and we've added enhancements such as billings and delivery dispatch information to the customer portal. In addition, Acme's customers enjoyed the functional and easy-to-navigate UI experience, the innovative quick reorder capability, and the multiple cart system. Ultimately, we were able to create a system that digitised this stationery giant.

The story continues

Since the launch of eAcme, we’ve continued our partnership with the company and provided ongoing support to the team. We look forward to new initiatives in the future and helping the stationary giant roll out industry-leading eCommerce innovations.

Starting from the RFP process BBT hit the brief extremely well, translating into the delivery of eAcme itself. Across the BBT team, they know their stuff and are professional in approach and responsiveness to issues. I would recommend them to any business looking to implement an eCommerce solution.

Luke Clancy
Acme
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