The new modern & mobile-friendly website, tightly integrated with the company’s SAP Business One back-office system, is expected to grow Internet sales by 10% in 6 months
Guildford, UK – February 21, 2017– ODS UK, creators of ODSNet™, the B2B eCommerce platform for SAP Business One, has been chosen to drive new online sales growth at New York-based apparel importer, Blue Generation. The company is due to go live with ODSNet in March.
The family-owned business, which supplies 15,000 active B2B customers, already does 40 per cent of its business through its web site, but needed to upgrade its e-commerce capability to keep up with the market and drive new growth. Blue Generation wanted to create a more modern look and feel, provide a better experience for mobile users, and provide greater account insight to its sales people. It was looking to upgrade its SAP back-office capabilities, so it made sense to reinvigorate the web site at the same time.
“Over the years the site had become old-looking and a bit ‘rusty’,” says Steve Bogart, Blue Generation’s VP of operations. “We contacted ODS because they came highly recommended as having the modern look and feel we were looking for, and they have an excellent reputation for synchronising and working with SAP Business One. We were very impressed when we saw their web demos.”
Although Blue Generation has an active sales force, Internet business is growing quickly: customers like the ability to simply add items to the online basket as they go. The updated site will be more intuitive and easier to navigate. “Instead of having to look up the style or category to find something, it will be much quicker and easier for customers to locate items, using on-screen grids, for example,” Steve explains.
Once the new system goes live, Blue Generation plans to incentivise customers to use the web site, which will be much more efficient. “We expect to be able to see the volumes online rise week by week, growing by 10 per cent in the first six months,” Steve says.
This will free up account managers to be more proactive, with better targeting and more focus on marketing and promotions. Blue Generation also aims to make field sales staff more productive, by allowing them to look up customer accounts and sales histories while on their way to see a client. “Currently they have to email, text or phone us to get that information, but in future they’ll be able to look it all up themselves.”
The new Blue Generation web site, based on ODSNet, replaces the company’s current ZedSuite e-commerce system. It will showcase more than 10,000 product options, and provide end-to-end integration with SAP Business One, and with Blue Generation’s secure credit card payment platform.
ODS, which has been helping Blue Generation to structure its product catalogue to take advantage of the rich functionality and easy usability of ODSNet, is also providing ongoing project services to the company.
“They’re an excellent company to work with – very professional and happy to go the extra mile to meet our needs, working with third parties as needed if that’s the best fit,” Steve says. “Everyone promises they can give you the moon, but we’ve seen what ODS can do, and what they’ve done for others, and we like what we’ve seen. They’re one of the best-quality suppliers we’ve ever dealt with.”