The Granite Group increases online orders over 50%

Leader in plumbing, heating, cooling, water and propane supplies focuses on the customer experience

Ranked as one of the top 40 Plumbing, Heating and PVF Wholesale distributors in the United States, The Granite Group serves all of New England with over 30 branches, 16 Ultimate Bath Stores and 400 employees.

In order to keep up with the changing nature of their industry, make it easier for customers to do their jobs and beat major players in their industry, The Granite Group recognized that eCommerce could no longer be put on the backburner.

Seeking a robust online catalog, not an ERP access point

The Granite Group’s initial eCommerce offering was a simple web portal provided by their ERP. Customers would go to the portal and abandon the site 80% of the time. The system did not make sense to customers. They would sign up but never use the site. It was focused from the inside-out. Instead, The Granite Group needed a solution designed for the customer, from the outside-in.

The Granite Group wanted to provide a fully functional eCommerce experience with robust cataloging, images and a solid taxonomy. They needed a solution that was intuitive, easy to use and provided the modern web interface their customers expected. In addition, they required a platform that could scale and grow alongside the company.

The Granite Group did not want a static, cookie cutter website. They needed something that was capable of shifting with the needs of their industry. In addition, the solution needed to seamlessly integrate with their Infor SX.e ERP.

With goals to reduce the cost to serve existing customers, streamline processes, enable their sales team to be more efficient and grow revenue, The Granite Group selected Optimizely B2B Commerce Cloud to power their new online experience.

It’s clear that [Optimizely] Optimizely is out there looking at what’s going on, listening to customers and figuring out what to do next. That’s important to us because the technology landscape changes quickly. With [Optimizely] Optimizely B2B Commerce Cloud, we’re able to focus on what we do which is servicing our customers, while they take care of the rest.

Coburn Flannery

Director of eBusiness, The Granite Group

A shift from full-service channels to self-service channels

Since incorporating Optimizely B2B Commerce Cloud, The Granite Group has been analyzing the shift from full-service channels to self-service channels. They have seen an increase in online orders by more than 50% year-over-year and estimate that in 2020, eCommerce could account for up to 20% of their business.

Today, sales associates are able to focus on adding value to their customers. They have a lot of industry knowledge about the solutions The Granite Group provides. Prior to incorporating Optimizely B2B Commerce Cloud, they were on the phone taking orders and completing other mundane tasks. Now the website is available to customers 24/7 and the company is seeing a major channel shift. Sales representatives are now freed up from simple tasks so they can focus on adding value in other areas and fostering deeper, more meaningful relationships.

Success for The Granite Group means growing every year by adding employees, locations, products and vendors. They are hyper-committed to satisfying their customers’ needs. Optimizely is proud to help The Granite Group see success and remain among the top plumbing, heating and PVF wholesale distributors.

Layer One Media

Layer One Media successfully partners with B2B organizations of all sizes to provide flexible strategy, technology solutions, eCommerce consulting services and measurable success that continues well beyond launch.