news The Good Guys, the Australian household appliance retailer, this week said it collaborated with IBM on the construction of its new business-to-business (B2B) online portal aimed to transform engagement with its business customers.
Working in partnership with IBM Commerce, The Good Guys set out to build a new B2B digital solution planned to make it easier for its business customers to source quotes, place orders, process payments and monitor transactions.
The solution, which has been live since April, replaced a manual quote sourcing and purchasing process which was described as “resource intensive” in an IBM statement.
The new online portal now allows B2B customers to get live quotes and make real-time purchasing decisions, and is also customised to allow each client to have their own unique sign in and pricing structure.
“There was a real need in the market for a solution to allow The Good Guys clients to transact with the brand in a fast, efficient and satisfying manner,” said Sean Quinnell, Chief Operating Officer at The Good Guys.
“We anticipate around 85% of our clientele will use the new digital solution in their business to automate lengthy procurement processes and retrieve live pricing to better service their business needs in a more efficient and effective way,” Quinnell said.
The launch of the new portal follows the consolidation of The Good Guys consumer website which unified usability across mobile, tablet and desktop in December of 2014.
The consumer web solution is supported by the IBM WebSphere Commerce platform and is “fully responsive” for the end user’s device, IBM said.
The improved web consumer platform, alongside the addition of new services and functions, have resulted in “significant” year-on-year online growth, it added.
“The added advantage of implementing the digital portal on one platform, is we now have one system in place to service both our B2B and B2C needs, reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) and creating more efficiencies in our internal systems and processes,” said Quinnell.
John Mullins, General Manager, IBM Commerce Australia and New Zealand, commented: “What we’re seeing in the B2B marketplace is that businesses are wanting to have the same convenience and intuitive experience when they transact with brands online as they do in their consumer lives. The connected consumer is really driving this change in the business world.”
“The agile digital solution will allow The Good Guys to offer their customers a secure and robust platform to streamline arduous procurement processes and make it easier for them to transact with the brand,” Quinnell concluded.
IBM Commerce solution supports businesses’ marketing, sales and analytics services using real-time insights powered by IBM Watson – Big Blue’s technology platform that uses natural language processing and machine learning to analyse large volumes of unstructured data.
Image credit: Patrick, Creative Commons
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