Smart Group
B2B online service and cabinet of the future
Our goal was to understand how the B2B service might look in the future. And make it even better!
Smart Group is a distributor of gadgets and innovative equipment
Guys wanted to digitalize and automize the ordering and communication process with their clients (the biggest tech supermarket chains).
We started with the observation of the work of managers on both sides of the process, researched key business processes, and conducted a set of in-depth interviews with the company’s clients.
Read about the findings of our research.
Here's what we've found:
• Store managers are also people (surprise!) — they don’t only think about making more money and developing the business. They think about such simple things as going home on time or avoiding misunderstandings with their colleagues.
• Managers are used to communicating and placing orders via Skype and email. They use Skype as file hosting service and even conduct financial reconciliations through it! It’s not convenient and definitely not safe but they don’t see a better alternative.
• Smart Group works with large clients through its own API, which allowed us to automate all processes. But this is only 10% of customers.
• In B2B, convenience and aesthetics are often neglected. People assume that the only important thing in B2B is the price and availability of goods. So most of the online interfaces still look like wooden software in the 90s.
• Retails (the clients of Smart Group) would like the importer to promote the products they sell. Smart Group already has its own marketing department that handles advertising and PR for each product, but the clients didn’t know about it.
We understood that one of the biggest challenges was to create a solution that would not bring the anxiety or stress about something new and difficult
We needed to keep the essential habits of managers but at the same time simplify the routine tasks, eliminating the human factor which causes most mistakes and misunderstandings.
The main solutions:
When a client enters the merchant profile, they immediately see the already familiar from the social networks news feed. Here you can see the Order Status, new products, personal discount offers, and news.
Now managers can order products through their B2B merchant profile with one click
They can just drag and drop an xls file with item numbers into it, as in email, or simply insert a list of products, as in Skype.
There is no more need to open a lot of tabs to learn about the products and select the most interesting items
We have created product cards with short descriptions and provided a short info about the purchase conditions and promotions.
It's super easy to find the previously ordered products in the Content section
You can also download all the necessary materials. All the products are placed in chronological order so a manager can easily find the info about their recent orders
Internal Kickstarter
To reduce the risk of introducing new products for the market, we have added a «mini Kickstarter» to the merchant profile. If a new product collects the required number of pre-orders Smart Group imports the product to Ukraine, and the first clients receive it with a significant discount.
Manage the service in one window
In your merchant profile, you can apply for the reclamation or repair service and track the status of repairs or replacements performed. Small retail chains can fully transfer the service function to Smart Group. Their customers need to submit a request on its website, and Smart Group will pick up and return the product after repair.
We have added beautiful animations and interactive elements to make the service not only convenient but also pleasant.
Of course, all this can be done on the go from your smartphone
When discounts destroy the market and devalue it, digitalization develops it and creates more real value for the real people
We believe that B2B can be successful not only when you give big discounts but also when you create a better client experience.
