Along their digital journey, BE Group has encountered several challenges but also learned several valuable lessons. With the goal in mind – to make the buying journey as simple as possible – new and innovative solutions have been developed.
A platform adapted for both Sweden and Finland
BE Group needed a solution that worked for both the Swedish and Finnish markets. They realized early on that both countries have different needs and therefore could not come up with the exact same solution for both. Instead, a working group was put together with representatives from both countries. The idea was to jointly find ways that easily tackled each country's challenges, and at the same time ensure that it was still perceived as a single company, BE Group"Both Finland and Sweden are far ahead in their digitization, and as a result, we only identified small organizational differences between our Finnish and Swedish offices. Therefore, there were relatively few things that needed unique solutions for each country, and primarily there were certain elements that only needed to be adapted. Among other things, we saw that there were different ways to meet customers and develop an understanding of their needs,” says Lukas Baranauskis, Online Sales & Marketing Specialist at BE Group Sweden
In the long term, there are plans for continued international expansion. Based on the system that BE Group has now built, it is expected that it will be relatively easy to establish the company in new markets. Translations and some local adaptations will need to be made, but overall, Litium's flexible platform makes it possible to expand internationally quickly and easily.
Important to get everyone onboard
Pretty soon after the project was launched, BE Group started working internally to get everyone onboard the development train. This was done in many ways, such as by offering education and training early on and explaining what is being done and why. The task group kept in constant contact with all departments to ensure that the right skills were in place to drive the process forward.
The task group described the end goal and how it would contribute to the company's continued development. As a whole, it turned out to be an effective strategy, and many employees have commented on how easy it was to get into and work with Litium's platform.
"The only thing I would change, if I had to redo this process, is that I would start even earlier with informing and educating. Basically, the day after we launched the project, we could have started. Aside from that, I am very happy about the response we received from our employees,” says Lukas.
The customers’ needs at the centre of the development
The entire impetus for the project was based on the fact that the previous site was simply too old to offer modern solutions. Therefore, BE Group wanted an e-commerce platform that was flexible, easy to work in and also future-proof. The choice fell on Litium, which together with its partner Spot On, offered everything that BE Group wanted. By taking a completely new approach, it also brought opportunities to light to create innovative solutions that make the customer journey much easier.
An example is the management of production services, where the customer can cut, blast, and paint their products in a visual interface to get an idea of what the end result will look like before ordering. The company is also working on a solution that makes it possible to produce digital certificates, something that otherwise must be sent by post and can take several days to arrive.
"We often say that there are many people who can sell steel, but the decisive factor lies in how you treat the customer and that you do ‘that little bit extra".
With our new e-commerce solution, we can meet the customer regardless of where they are in the buying journey. We have also done, and continue to do, customer surveys where we ask what works well and what can be improved. There we receive very good input on what we need to work on in order to continue to be the customers' first choice,” says Lukas.
The results have certainly been forthcoming
Already after just one year, BE Group can boast having more customers and increased sales. At the same time, sales in the analogue channels remain at similar levels as before, so it is not just a matter of existing customers switching to digital channels. Rather, BE Group sees that through Litium's platform, they have been able to bring in more customers who appreciate the opportunity to place their orders themselves, at any time of the day.
–Naturally, we follow several KPIs, such as number of customers, sales volume, requests for access to the e-commerce portal and more. What is really positive, is that customer satisfaction also increased after we launched the new site. By making it simple, flexible, and above all accessible to be able to go in and create your order at any time, we are convinced that we can connect with many new customers,” concludes Lukas.
Lukas Baranauskis, Online Sales & Marketing Specialist at BE Group Sweden.
