The challenge
Heidelberg Druckmaschinen, a German manufacturer of offset printing presses, is a leading equipment provider for the global print media industry.
The B2B brand prides itself on enabling efficient, reliable production processes for its customers through its core businesses: equipment, services, and consumables.
These areas are the focus of its growth plans as the company evolves from a technology business to a customer-focused solutions provider. Heidelberg’s goal is to grow its services and consumables divisions, ensuring it represents 50 percent of group sales.
Heidelberg needed an experienced technology partner to develop a multilingual B2B online shop with complex requirements for product cataloging and pricing.
Thanks to its unrivalled ecommerce expertise, Inviqa was tasked with designing and developing the highly sophisticated ecommerce shop for 36 countries, and connecting it with Heidelberg’s existing product information management system (PIM).
Inviqa also needed to ensure that the existing IT systems integrated seamlessly with the company’s SAP enterprise resource planning system (ERP), user management system, and several payment providers.
Our approach
The international shop was implemented using the popular Magento platform. Heidelberg embraced Inviqa’s Agile software development for on-target project delivery.
This approach is defined by short sprints, as well as planning and review meetings, which enable teams to react swiftly to change requests and enhancements. Processes like the management of user login information, the logic behind account-based pricing for registered clients, as well as tax and freight cost calculations, were taken over from the ERP system.
The new online shop, which forms the basis for a global ecommerce solution, has now been rolled out across 36 countries.
The platform enables site visitors to browse products without having to register or create an account as is often the case with many B2B ecommerce platforms. It enables Heidelberg to offer customers special rates and online promotions as part of its loyalty programmes.
Payment can be made by invoice for existing account holders or via credit card, after which customers can track their delivery status in real time. Downloadable information is also available to customers to provide them with all the product, security, and technical details they might need.
Already proving to be very popular, Heidelberg’s short product videos provide guidance and advice on many of its products, complimenting its ecommerce platform with engaging content that delivers value to customers and drives sales. In opening its shop to all visitors, and not only registered customers, Heidelberg is raising the standards for B2B ecommerce platforms.
The Heidelberg e-shop is integral to connecting the company’s mechanical control systems with an online self-service portal. During the next phase of this long-term project, a range of Heidelberg's spare parts and items from its services offering will be made available on the e-shop to expand its online offering.
This story is a classic example of old meets new. Heidelberg, which operates in a traditional industry, has set a new benchmark in the B2B world with its award-winning ecommerce platform, which is helping to transform the client-supplier relationship.
Our work included
- Visual concept, wireframing, and design implementation
- Frontend and backend implementation of Magento (Enterprise Edition 1.14)
- Connecting the SAP-Solution using REST-API with order-simulation integration
- Connecting an external PIM-Solution via CSV files / FTP uploads
- Connecting the central login system
- Migration of existing clients and records
- Development of a product and image importer for items created in the PIM
- Shop-specific user- and technical documentation
- Quality assurance
- Creation of a usermanual
- 24/7/365 worldwide support
The results
The new Heidelberg e-shop was launched across 36 countries in just 12 months, with international rollout and customer migration successfully completed in April 2016.
The platform has opened new opportunities for customer acquisition through the introduction of B2C elements into the design and usability without losing focus on its B2B customer base. Customer-orientation, a diverse and comprehensive product offering, and ease of use are key features of the new online shop.
Thanks to Heidelberg’s successful partnership with Inviqa, the print media giant and its consulting firm Kienbaum Management were awarded ChannelPartner’s Best in eCommerce Award for ‘best B2B relaunch’.
