Customer
Madejski Sp. J.
Industry
Automotive, construction chemicals, high-pressure hydraulics
See implementation
www.madejski.com.pl/en
Want to know more?
Contact us
Hello, my name is Jan Madejski and I am responsible for export management in our family business. Two years ago I initiated the transition to a new wholesale platform. It has been a while since we introduced this platform for our regular customers and they successfully place orders through it. In this case study I would like to share with you our experience of implementing B2B wholesale software in Madejski Sp. J., developed by Pure interactive.
What does our company specialise in?
Since 1995, we have been manufacturing and selling products of/from the high pressure hydraulic, agriculture, mining, automotive and construction industries. In our offer you will find high pressure hoses along with all hydraulic components, industrial hoses, machines for the production of high and low pressure assembled hoses, parts for the automotive industry, hydraulic oils and accessories from dozens of suppliers from all over the world.
Furthermore, we are proud to represent our own brand of construction and automotive chemicals – GRAFEN PROFESSIONAL. We operate on a large scale, supplying products and goods to customers from Poland and abroad.
You can watch this short film to learn more about our company:
Digital sales transformation. How can it help us increase our company's efficiency?
Online presence was not new to us. So far we have had a website with an incomplete digital product catalog. But from 2018 onwards I have experienced a clear lack of features and capabilities of this solution, which has to accelerate and increase our sales.
As a representative of the so-called generation Y, the most disturbing problems I was concerned about were the ones I mention below. I was aware that unless the repetitive processes of B2B customer service and those most at risk of human error are digitized and we provide a positive experience of online shopping, there is certainly no chance for further company development.
Challenge 1. Lack of full customer autonomy
I recognised that the main problem affecting our business was that our current and potential customers could not place orders via the website. They only browsed through the specifications and product types online, could download the catalogue, but had to contact the product manager to make a purchase.
Both parties experienced difficulties – the sales department was drowning in emails, spreadsheets and calls, while customers were manually queued up with their orders. Despite dedicated account managers, they had to wait for the order to be processed. These repetitive daily activities deprived salespeople of time to look for new sales opportunities. After talking to our customers, I found out that they too experience the need for ‘digital self-service’.
The solution was to transfer the positive purchasing experience from B2C. For example, why can I order a new phone in a few clicks, but I can’t do online shopping for my company?
From the customer’s perspective, we needed the easiest possible path to purchase. On our part, the key issue was the business back-up – analysis, user authorisation levels, pricing policy… Everything that is necessary to conduct B2B sales.
Challenge 2. Multi-lingual & multi-currency capabilities
Being a dynamic company, from year to year we develop and expand our activities in Poland and beyond. We cooperate with numerous clients, among others from Russia, Germany, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. This is undoubtedly a win-win for our growth and the achievement of our business goals, but at the same time it poses a significant challenge for product data management.
As an example: the product subcategory – hydraulic hoses. This includes 24 products, each of which comes in about 12 variants. Simple mathematics shows that we have about 288 unique references with attributes and product data in 4 languages. Sounds good, but we own almost 40,000 items in our range.
To support our international operations, we provide access to a common product dataset and all translations of product names, attributes or SEO descriptions in one place. From the administration panel, salespeople can easily manage products and content in four languages.
The solution to the problem of multi-currency is full integration with the ERP system, as product prices in different currencies are automatically taken from our system. Therefore, when negotiating with a foreign customer, the salesman does not have to quickly search in the ERP (or in his notes) for the price of a projektile launcher in euros or PTFE teflon hoses in rubles. He has everything before his eyes.
Challenge 3. Up-to-date data
Our regular product is available in a minimum of ten variants with individual article numbers. To check the availability and price of any product, the salesman had to switch between the ERP system, website and Excel sheet. Moreover, customers cooperate with us on individual commercial terms. For this reason, we were looking for a tool to present our complete offer online with all attributes, product types, stock levels and individual discounts.
From the company’s standpoint, one of the most vital reasons for purchasing a B2B platform is the need for more efficient and faster work. When investing in such software, we could not imagine a situation where we would have to consider whether the data presented is up-to-date or not. Misleading the customer or a manual inventory verification is like a shot in the foot. We simply wanted to start selling online and not to face such problems.
That is why the integration of Saly with the ERP system was crucial for us when deciding to purchase the solution. Thanks to the integration we operate on a common data flow, which is updated in real time. Both customers and we see current and, most importantly, accurate data.
Challenge 4. Resistance to change
In every company there are change enthusiasts as well as people who prefer to stay with old, proven tools. In addition, many people are also afraid of the term ‘automation’ because they have a fear of losing their jobs. These are the two main concerns we had to address.
When it comes to changes, it was very important to present the benefits of the B2B e-commerce platform to both customers and our employees. Thanks to this, our salespeople could experience the intuitiveness of the system, both for themselves and for their customers (at different levels of technical proficiency).
As for automation, B2B online sales do not intend to replace a sales representative, but to help him, to free him from repetitive tasks, to give him more space to act ‘forward’. This is an advantage, not a risk. In a company as experienced as ours, we met with a positive response to this perspective and all concerns have been eliminated.
Challenge 5. Sales and marketing synergy
The solution proposed by the Pure Interactive software house has met our company’s “sales” needs: a digital catalogue with order placement and payment options for registered customers and a modern presentation of our products. Equally important is the sales panel, which provides an insight into our sales results.
The platform also serves as a marketing and information tool. An extensive CMS module allows for comprehensive content management on the platform. Thanks to the “promotions” and “news” modules, our marketing department shares with the users of the platform the latest information from the life of the company and the best offers.The SEO module supports optimization of subpages of the platform – it allows us to set up keywords, meta-titles, meta-descriptions without the need to access the source code.
I can therefore claim with certainty that madejski.com.pl is both a sales ecosystem and a complete virtual business card for Madejski.
Challenge 6. So many products!
A wide range of products is both our great advantage and a headache. Why? On the one hand, it lets us provide our customers with products that fully meet their expectations, while on the other hand, this huge range of products must be managed wisely.
Our industry is also specific. For example, consider the hoses for vehicles. What really matters here is the perfect fit to guarantee safety, that is why we offer these hoses in many variants. Each one of them has strictly defined parameters. For example, a hose for petroleum products has 9 parameters! These differences in technical parameters must be clearly communicated and at the same time transparent. In addition, we sell many types of products – some by meters, others by pieces or in bulk packaging.
I was satisfied that in Saly, in an easy way, we can manage many product variants. Additionally, thanks to the integration with ERP, prices, codes and stocks (and other basic data from ERP) are updated automatically. So we can easily manage product data and customers get consistent and clear information.
How did the investment in Saly's B2B e-commerce platform contribute to the growth of Madejski?
- Our salespeople can spend more time building relationships with new customers and gaining new sales opportunities.
- We devote 4x less effort to processing repeat orders through the platform compared to times without a B2B platform.
- The whole process of placing repeat orders has been automated and transferred to one system thanks to integration with ERP.
- We have systematised the stock file – we work on a consistent product dataset.
- We present our offer 24/7 – about 40.000 products are available to order online.
- We communicate more effectively with foreign customers by providing complete product information in their language.
How do I expect to cooperate with Pure Interactive in the future?
Since Saly is delivered in a SaaS model, I can rest assured that the software will be updated and developed. For our part, we do not have to worry about the maintenance and security of the madejski.com.pl IT infrastructure. We can sleep peacefully and just do our job. And to grow our business, I certainly expect Pure Interactive to implement new functionalities to its product that will raise our B2B sales to an even higher level.