OVERVIEW 

Schneider Electric is a French multinational and Fortune Global 500 company with 137,000 employees. The company primarily specialises in energy management and the manufacturing of electrical equipment. Over the last decade, the company has successfully transformed its operations and relationships with over 650,000 partners to become a leader in the digital transformation of energy management.

In 2019, the company made the decision to develop an eCommerce strategy and established a new internal team to tackle the complex challenge of not only transitioning to eCommerce, but also revamping the business model to B2B2C.

In the first phase of the transformation to B2B2C, Schneider chose ChannelSight’s Where to Buy solution to close the gap in the customer journey between the brand website and the customer’s preferred online retailer.

THE CHALLENGE 

The primary challenge was that Schneider traditionally sold their products through specialist electrical wholesalers in a niche B2B sector. The core customer base is electrical contractors, with inventory including products such as circuit breakers, switchgears and transformers.

The route to market for the electrical equipment industry had typically been largely bricks and mortar based, but the company knew that the volume of 140,000 products made them a good fit for online sales.

Due to operating in an online market that was relatively slow at making the shift to digital, Schneider experienced two big hurdles in transitioning to B2B2C, as it requires a degree of digital maturity.

The first challenge was the sheer scale of work needed on the Schneider Electric website to make it eCommerce friendly. The goal was to make it look less like a catalogue and to place the Where to Buy buttons on more web pages to make purchasing more accessible.

The second challenge was that partner websites, which were primarily electrical retailers, had log-in areas for customers that prevented the brand site from linking to third-party retailer sites.

THE SOLUTION

ChannelSight was with Schneider every step of the way during the on-boarding process, even providing tailored solutions to ensure Where to Buy was fully linked with their third-party distributors. All distributors had to do was create a feed that matched to the Schneider product catalogue and then provide a way of tracking sales, usually through Google Analytics, which enabled Schneider to gain customer journey insights.

Along with strengthening relationships with distributors, the Where to Buy solution immensely simplified the path to purchase for prospective customers. They must simply click the Where to Buy button on the Schneider brand site, which lists online electrical distributors that stock the products. Customers simply choose their favourite retailer from the list and are directed right to the site.

As Schneider customers are typically contractors who buy in bulk, ChannelSight also equipped Schneider with a transfer cart that enabled them to effectively handle multiple product purchases.

THE BENEFITS

In the first 12 months, 68 distributors in 11 markets were added to Schneider’s eCommerce platform. While the initial transition period required some time for momentum to pick up, it didn’t take long for results to show – and they were transformative.

The Where to Buy solution had a tremendous impact on Schneider’s conversion rates – increasing them to over 4x the industry average. The solution also led to a 2x increase in sales, a 2.5x revenue increase and higher average purchase values across the board.

It wasn’t only in conversions and sales where Schneider saw results. They also increased their brand loyalty by over 95% and gained more customer registrations as well.

“We chose ChannelSight for the way they support the retailers we work with and that’s why we will stay with them.” – Raeza Tromp, Global eCommerce Program Manager, Schneider Electric

Overall, it was the convenience for customers, ease of setting up, low-cost investment by partners, and real results that made ChannelSight’s Where to Buy the solution of choice for Schneider Electric.

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