Huisman was already well-established as a provider of heavy construction equipment for the energy industry. But to better help its customers maintain their equipment in top shape and avoid any costly downtime, the family-owned company, founded in 1929, realized it needed to go digital — and in a way that was helpful to customers who were often out of internet access range.

Maaike de Rover, program manager, digitalization, Huisman

Going digital — enabling customers to order parts and service and view technical manuals from computer devices in remote locations at sea — makes Huisman’s products and services far more accessible and the company far more efficient and proactive in serving customers.

“The ultimate goal is to grow our business and stay relevant for our clients,” says de Rover, program manager, digitalization.

Moving toward predictive maintenance

Moreover, Huisman’s digital applications are putting its Services division into the position to “move from preventive maintenance to predictive maintenance,” she says, with online dashboards designed to alert customers when their equipment may be due for maintenance and new parts.

Headquartered in Schiedam, Netherlands, with worldwide production and service facilities, Huisman worked with digital agency Fenego to deploy the Intershop Commerce technology platform. Intershop, which launched its first ecommerce platform in 1992, “combines the functionality of a B2B shop with the user-friendly aesthetics of a B2C platform,” according to Martijn Reissenweber, director of Huisman Services.

But the new digital technology layout is “more DXP than just an ecommerce platform, it goes far beyond ecommerce,” says de Rover, using the letters for digital experience platform.

In addition, Huisman manages customer and financial data and product information with an Isah ERP system, a Windchill data management application, and Google Analytics. And it uses an image designing tool for displaying 3D product drawings.

To make the digital platform more useful for customers when outside of internet access, de Rover says Huisman worked with Intershop and Fenego to deploy the commerce technology as a progressive web application. That configuration lets customers continue to engage through various mobile devices with downloaded web content, including product and order details, account activity, and service records, even when they have poor or no internet access in remote sea locations, such as windfarm construction sites.

Vessel-mounted Huisman cranes at a windfarm construction site.

Engaging customers via myHuisman

Huisman’s digital strategy is to make it easier for its customers aboard vessels to order parts and technical services through the manufacturer’s new digital portal, myHuisman. The portal also lets them access a broad scope of technical manuals, 3D product images, and other resources with detailed specifications, place orders for replacement parts, and receive technical help online.

Personalized content and service was crucial for Huisman to maintain a helpful digital interaction with customers at different types of companies, regardless of where they were operating and their level of internet access, de Rover says. She notes that a typical cost of equipment out of service for maintenance or repairs can run $200,000 or more per day.

2024 Ecommerce Platforms Report

Analysis of the top ecommerce platforms being used today in both B2C and B2B. Includes a list of the leading platform vendors, an analysis of where companies have invested, the latest trends in platform technology, and an in-depth look at where AI matters most.

View Details

“Our industry is based on relations and personal contact with people who may work 30-40 years for the same company,” she says. “So, before we started building this platform, I formed a customer advisory board … and the clients helped us build the platform.”

Among myHuisman’s features are:

• Dedicated parts shops for customers with highly customized equipment. “It’s quite important for them to know what specific items are available for their equipment,” de Rover says. For example, she notes that a 2,600-metric-ton leg-encircling crane can have over 10,000 serviceable items and parts available for purchase, and a customer can click to see all the parts that are available, the price and the order lead times.
• Access to a technical digital library of what are typically huge volumes of product manuals and documents related to the purchase and operation of Huisman equipment.

In the past, ships outfitted with Huisman cranes or other products would carry a full ship container stocked with paper manuals and documents. Next came CD-ROMs, which offered helpful 3D imaging used for maintaining and repairing equipment, but intermittent internet access limited their usefulness.

The new library available through myHuisman lets customers download materials online and use them with full interactive features even without internet access.

• An online services ticketing system, which customers can use aboard vessels to arrange to receive technical assistance from Huisman technicians and engineers. Customers can also check other users’ questions and their status and review Huisman’s recorded replies.

In some cases, a Huisman engineer will travel by air and water to arrive at a client’s vessel to conduct onboard service, but to limit the expense of such travel, Huisman has developed alternate remote support services using such tools as photo-taking drones and the enterprise version of smart glasses to share images of onboard equipment with land-based engineers and technicians.

Keeping track online of made-to-order cranes

Later this year, Huisman also expects to launch a digital file management system for keeping customers up to date on the status of customized cranes and other equipment as they’re in production. De Rover notes that the production process can take two to three years, making it difficult to regularly maintain, share and organize project documents with customers on typically highly complex, made-to-order products.

For Huisman’s largest and most ecommerce-mature customers, the manufacturer is also working on providing direct connections from companies’ enterprise resource planning or plant maintenance systems to the myHuisman web shop for fast and efficient ordering of products.

De Rover says there is a significant growth opportunity as Huisman onboards more customers to myHuisman for routine activities like scheduling service calls, freeing up its salespeople and account managers to spend more time on helping these companies match their needs to Huisman’s product offerings.

Sophie du Mortier, marketeer, Huisman

Going forward, Huisman is developing a technology application designed to let customers remotely monitor on myHuisman the construction progress of cranes they’ve ordered.

“Once they buy a crane, they can monitor their equipment’s complete production process,” says Sophie du Mortier, marketeer for Huisman. “Customers can collaborate with Huisman on design and test documentation. They will have full insights in planning. Transparency is key.”

Huisman is also developing a myHuisman online performance dashboard that enables condition-based monitoring, a method using information from equipment-embedded sensors to give customers information on required maintenance.

“They have a complete overview of the status of the equipment,” du Mortier says. “And we are working towards a servicing model in which we can use this data to provide operational advice.”

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Submit a nomination

Nominate a game-changer in manufacturing, distributing or retailing. Submit your pick for the Global B2B eCommerce Industry Awards from Digital Commerce 360 and the B2B Ecommerce Association.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post Crane manufacturer Huisman goes digital for oceangoing customers appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Yikun Shao, head of supply chain for North America, Alibaba.com

Businesses have been carefully watching the state of global supply chains as they have had to maneuver around obstacle after obstacle to ensure they meet the increasing demands of customers. In 2024, businesses will continue to feel the brunt of existing challenges, as well as meet new ones, and it will be critical to anticipate and find new ways to manage these issues while living up to customer expectations.

Of note, nearly four in ten (38%) small businesses think the global supply chain outlook will have a negative impact on their business, according to an Alibaba.com survey, so it will be important to watch for changes throughout the year and monitor for potential concerns.

One of the most pressing challenges the industry faces is a shift of issues from the supply to the demand side. On the supply side, more raw materials are available, and there are fewer transportation obstacles.

However, on the demand side, there has been rising inflation globally, and backlogged inventory, especially in the U.S. and E.U., has led to a decrease in demand, compounded by decreased demand for certain products. While the U.S. saw a return to pre-pandemic consumer holiday season spending in 2023, businesses may still want a more conservative approach and order products in smaller quantities, meaning that meeting shipping requirements may become more difficult. Demand is not able to meet the products that the supply side is able to provide.

On top of this, recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing as supply chains are still readjusting from related interruptions. There is more stability, but recovery takes time, especially as new challenges arise.

Mounting Concerns Businesses Should Monitor

Businesses are also facing a number of additional issues that could spell trouble for them throughout the year that they should be watching carefully:

• Cyber attacks: Threats from bad actors continue to be a growing issue. Small businesses are three times more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals, and the cost of cybercrimes to small businesses reached $2.4 billion in 2021.
• Labor and government shutdowns: 70% of small business owners say a government shutdown would negatively impact their business, and 93% say it would hurt their revenue. Additionally, labor strikes can also impact small businesses by disrupting vendors or shipping partners.
• Natural disaster events: With 2023 on track to be the hottest year on record and extreme weather events increasing, supply chains could be increasingly disrupted by natural disasters and unworkable conditions.
• Panama Canal disruptions: The drought in Panama, largely caused by the El Niño climate phenomenon, has caused major delays and bottlenecks for those in the logistics industry. Scientists believe climate change may be prolonging dry spells and increasing temperatures in Panama. As such, the situation has become dire and expected to continue into at least mid-2024, as the number of ships allowed through the canal will decrease into February.
• The state of the U.S. economy: 47% of small business owners feel the economy will get worse in the next 12 months, and 58% said their business is being impacted by higher interest rates.

It will be crucial for businesses to monitor these and other issues and adapt as necessary by tapping into innovative industry tools and resources.

Digital Tools Address the Changing Supply Chain Landscape

As supply chain and logistics trends continue to evolve, digital tools can make it easier to manage operations to ensure on-time deliveries. There are a variety of tools on the market that can help businesses stay up-to-date on shipping and inventory processes. Companies can also invest in data analytics programs to assess patterns in inventory management and customer demands. There are even technology offerings that can help model and then execute on needs as supply chains come under greater stress. The goal in utilizing digital solutions like these is to predict trends, streamline processes and increase efficiency no matter the current supply chain landscape.

To make the biggest impact, specifically engineered intelligent tools, like Alibaba.com’s Smart Assistant, are also available, and they can provide better insight into the sourcing process. They can include features surrounding supplier transparency, direct communication with translation, shipment tracking, protections for wrong or delayed orders, and digital inventory awareness. These functions allow businesses to keep tabs on their orders and adjust to changes to time orders accordingly and, most of all, have peace of mind when sourcing their products.

However, employing digital tools is just one avenue businesses can take for upping their supply chain game.

Alternative Shipping and Warehousing Methods

Thinking outside the box when updating your shipping practices can also help to increase efficiencies, meet the growing demand for faster deliveries and stay resilient during supply chain setbacks.

There is a newer phenomenon in the form of crowdsourced delivery. This allows businesses to scale their shipment operations and work with other businesses to achieve timeliness and efficiency in deliveries. This communal form of shipping will continue to grow and become highly utilized in the coming years as technology becomes more widely adopted.

Beyond crowdsourced delivery, the localization of supply chains is also helping keep things closer to home, reduce logistics costs and cut order fulfillment time for small businesses. Localization may take the form of strategically built warehousing networks to maintain inventory closer to major customer bases. Some businesses are also using third-party warehouses, but these can have numerous and complex restrictions, which are constantly evolving. With that in mind, regional warehousing could be a viable alternative.

The world of ecommerce logistics and supply chain is constantly changing, but digitization, localization and omni-channel distribution are the three areas of innovation that businesses should consider taking advantage of. New technologies are bringing more transparency to the process than ever before. While these trends are growing, it will be critical for businesses to stay vigilant and monitor for new innovations and supply chain developments in order to be ready to tackle future challenges and seize new opportunities to evolve and improve their supply chains.

About the author:

Yikun Shao is Head of Supply Chain for North America at international marketplace Alibaba.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post 2024 has mounting supply chain issues. Here are new ways to handle them. appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

But even after four years — and 16 consecutive quarters — of increases in transaction volume, it’s still pleasantly surprised at how well it’s doing.

Following a record 286,900 transactions on its digital platform in the fourth quarter of 2023, Freightos says it exceeded management expectations for the full year as the annual number of transactions surpassed 1 million for the first time.

The company includes in transaction volume all real-time global freight-rate comparisons, booking, and shipment management transactions.

Freightos Q4 transaction volume surges 36%

In addition, Freightos said Q4 transaction volume surged 36% over the year-earlier quarter, as Q4 gross booking value increased 10% to $187.5 million. It said the number of buyers on the Freightos platform rose 12% year over year to 17,600.

For the full year, the number of transactions surged 53% to 1.02 million. Gross booking volume increased 10% to $671.7 million.

Freightos says its digital platform supports clients’ supply chain operations by “enabling real-time procurement of ocean and air shipping across more than 13,000 importers/exporters, thousands of freight forwarders, and dozens of airlines and ocean carriers.”

Importers and exporters using the Freightos platform include such companies as Electrolux, Bridgestone, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Briggs & Stratton, and Parker Baby Co.

Freightos also provides shipping data through such services as the for the Frieghtos Air Index for air cargo information, and the Freightos Baltic Index, a daily benchmark of container shipping prices.

Freightos has scheduled its Q4 and full-year earnings call for Feb. 26.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post Logistics firm Freightos exceeds 1 million transactions in 2023 appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Planning ocean freight shipments in 2024 will run into several issues, as consumer spending caution, geopolitical impacts on trade routes, and supply chain diversification beyond China may disrupt the shipping industry and the steady supply of ocean shipping containers, Container xChange says in its second annual report on shipping industry trends.

Christian Roeloffs, CEO, Container xChange

“In 2024, the shipping industry will grapple with reduced demand and oversupply [of containers], potentially leading to fierce competition, reduced profits, and possible mergers and acquisitions,” the report says. It adds, “Blank sailings are expected to rise in response to market volatility, while imbalanced container availability, driven by economic crises may continue.” Blank sailings occur when an ocean carrier cancels as planned port of call because of changing market dynamics.

Container shortages resulting in higher container prices are also a concern in some markets, such as those most affected by recent attacks against container ships in the Red Sea, the report notes.

“Some of the main ports in Germany like Rotterdam, Hamburg, Bremen are posting significant week-on-week price increases and, of course, the interpretation is that the situation in the Red Sea has contributed to this increase,” Christian Roeloffs, CEO of Container xChange, said this week.

He added, “The market anticipates that, especially in Europe, which is on the receiving end of import containers from the Middle East, India, southeast Asia and China, that container scarcity will lead to an increase in container prices and the market.”

‘China plus one’ supply chain strategy

The report also notes that 50% of companies expect to modify import strategies in 2024 that rely on a “China plus one” strategy of sourcing products from at least one other country in addition to China.

“Importers in the U.S.A. have diversified their sources to include Southeast Asia, India, and Pakistan,” Josilene Mattos, senior global account manager, container-shipping company Hapag-Lloyd AG, says in the report. “This strategic move has proven to be a successful business practice and should be sustained in the years to come.”

Much of that diversification will result in increased trade with India and other Southeast Asia countries, Roeloffs says.

“As it is difficult for manufacturers to move their entire value chain away from China, we expect an increase in cargo volumes, specifically of semi-finished goods, within Asia,” he says. “This increase in trade is expected between China and Southeast Asia, India, and other similar destinations, before finished goods are transported to the ‘consuming’ countries. Ultimately, this will benefit strong niche carriers and the smaller vessel sectors.”

Overall, companies are largely positive about the global container shipping industry’s growth this year, according to a recent survey Container xChange conducted of 1,200 supply chain professionals.

The survey found that nearly three-quarters, or 74%, of respondents foresee positive growth in the global container shipping industry this year. In addition, 53% said they expect container prices to increase in 2024.

The survey also found the following percentages of respondents investing in technology:

• 31%, forecasting and planning.
• 27%, trading partner collaboration and connectivity.
• 24%, real-time visibility and tracking.
• 18%, process automation.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

The post Global shippers get ready for a vibrant but challenging 2024 appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

That pressure stems from ARG’s role as a light custom-manufacturer as well as a distributor of more than 25,000 SKUs for  industrial hoses, fittings and related products for such industrial uses as oil rigs and fuel-delivery trucks. Most of its business involves replacing broken industrial hoses, and ARG’s sales and product teams often work with customers to assemble customized hose products and systems.

Mike Powers, director, ecommerce and digital, ARG Industrial

“You have to make sure that you’re getting the right data from your suppliers, and also that you’re presenting the right data on these assemblies to your customers,” says Mike Powers, ARG’s director of ecommerce and digital. Ship a hose assembly with the wrong specifications, and the customer could experience severe problems, he adds.

ARG B2B digital commerce sales

ARG is working with the Industrial Distributor Cooperative (IDCO) buying group and product information management (PIM) and other software from digital commerce technology vendor Unilog to expedite how it receives product data from Midland and other critical suppliers.

Ross Baker, director of product strategy, Midland Industries

“It’s the way of the future,” says Ross Baker, Midland’s director of product strategy. “The more distributors that are pulling this data we’re putting into the PIM, the more chances there are for sales to increase on both sides.”

Powers asserts that companies involved in ecommerce face challenges in pulling data from legacy enterprise resource planning systems and integrating that data with a customer-facing ecommerce site.

“They’re realizing that the complexity of integrating legacy ERP and B2B ecommerce is very, very tough,” Powers says. He adds that companies then often find it difficult to find the people with the necessary expertise to work with legacy ERP systems.”

Working with Unilog and IDCO, ARG receives more consistent and helpful product information from Midland and other suppliers.

Midland is now pushing new product updates quickly to ARG, “instead of us waiting 12 months to get a new catalog,” Powers says. “All we need to do is log in.”

Data collaboration results

He says the much-improved product data flow is producing several results, including:

• Increased web traffic through improved keywords and search engine optimization.
• A more useful site search tool and increased sales of newly released products.
• ARG’s enhanced ability to develop a new configurator that lets customers who want to build their own hose assemblies to order an accurate product set.
• ARG’s enhanced ability to provide punchout catalogs that let buyers punch out from their procurement software to an ARG product catalog.

Baker adds that Midland expects to extend the level of product data-sharing it does with ARG to more companies to foster increased revenue for both Midland and its channel partners.

The Cashing in with Digital Channel Partners report is available for a free download.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post How manufacturers and distributors collaborate to grow B2B digital sales appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Dan Lewis, CEO, Convoy Inc.

“We are in the middle of a massive freight recession and a contraction in the capital markets,” Lewis said in a memo to employees, whose ranks had been slashed to about 500 from a peak of 1,500 a year ago.

Launched in 2015 under the leadership of Lewis, a former Amazon.com Inc. executive — and operating with financial backing from such investor as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates — Convoy racked up a client base including such companies as The Home Depot, Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Anheuser-Busch.

But largely because of post-pandemic drop in demand and a challenging investment market, Lewis said Convoy had spent the last several months exploring alternatives, including possible acquirers to maintain its operations.

“Alongside this unprecedent freight market collapse, the dramatic monetary tightening we’ve seen over the past 18 months has dramatically dampened investment appetite,” he said, adding: “M&A activity has shrunk substantially, and most logical strategic acquirers of Convoy are also suffering from the freight market collapse, making the deal that much harder. The perfect storm.”

Mike Brown, general partner of investment firm Bowery Capital, commented in an email to DC360 that Bowery’s  tracking of fundraising data for B2B marketplaces, in general, shows the quantity and monetary value of financings is down significantly.

He suggested that “a macro takeaway” regarding investments in B2B marketplaces “is the cyclicity of the business and difficulty of the business model (including low take rates, high servicing costs, and tough multiples) which we think will scare a lot of venture dollars away.”

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that Convoy is one of many logistics startups hurt by falling prices and demand for shipping along with a downturn in venture capital fundraising. Bloomberg noted that Flexport Inc. and Seattle-based warehousing startup Flexe Inc. have had to lay off workers as demand fell from pandemic highs.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post Digital trucking firm Convoy blames ‘perfect storm’ for shutdown appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

SmartEquip recently released the SmartEquip e-Commerce 2.0 as a technology platform, on which authorized distributors, dealers and fleet managers can operate their own branded self-service commerce store for selling construction parts from SmartEquip’s parts catalog network of more than 700 original equipment manufacturers. The company is a subsidiary of B2B marketplace company RB Global Inc., which also owns such organizations as construction equipment marketplace operator Ritchie Bros.

SmartEquip B2B ecommerce platform

Andrew Malion, president of braking equipment supplier Spectra Products Inc., says the SmartEquip product catalog helps his customers view descriptions and images of Spectra’s Brake Safe  products to ensure they order the correct parts for truck air brake diagnostic systems. Spectra Products recently joined the SmartEquip Network.

“Joining their network of suppliers and manufacturers is the ideal way to offer equipment owners our Brake Safe diagnostics tool,” he says.

Ron Piccolo, senior vice president of operations at Smart Equip, says Spectra Products is an example of the growth in the variety of suppliers in the SmartEquip Network.

In addition to several hundred OEM brands, the SmartEquip Network has over 95,000 users across more than 42,000 equipment locations globally, SmartEquip says.

The upgraded SmartEquip ecommerce store supports a mobile channel.

RB Global’s operations also include:

• Ritchie Bros., a global online auctioneer of commercial assets and construction vehicles.
• IAA, a global digital marketplace for motor vehicle buyers and sellers.
• Rouse Services, an asset management and performance benchmarking system.
• Xcirca, a live simulcast auction technology provider.
• Veritread, an online marketplace for heavy haul transport services.

RB Global took its current corporate name earlier this year, when it changed it from Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, the company reported $1.7 billion in total revenue. It also reported marketplace gross transaction value of $6.0 billion.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.

The post SmartEquip builds a new B2B ecommerce venue for construction parts appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

But the short version of where Caterpillar, with 2022 sales and revenue of $59.4 billion, is digitally headed these days is connectivity across all aspects of its business — including ecommerce.

Brent Steffen, director of ecommerce, Caterpillar Inc.

“Everything we are doing with digital is about creating integrated and seamless experiences for our customers that help them be more efficient ,” says Brent Steffen,  Caterpillar’s director of ecommerce.

At the company’s May 2022 Investor Day, Caterpillar said its goal was to grow dealer parts sales to users through ecommerce by another 50% from where it was then within the next three years.

“We’ve also invested significantly in our ecommerce capability, and we’re seeing good progress there,” CEO Jim Umpleby told analysts on a 2022 earnings call. “A whole range of digital investments that we’re making are really starting to produce results, and we’re very bullish on that. Utilization is up, but also, we’re seeing positive results from all the hard work of our teams over the last few years.”

Caterpillar invests heavily in digital technology

Overall ecommerce is growing because Caterpillar is investing heavily in digital technology and the user experience of its websites, including Parts.cat.com. Specifically, to boost ecommerce sales and enable customers to make faster and easier transactions online, Caterpillar has been taking these steps:

• Building omnichannel experiences through deeper ecommerce integration with its 156 dealers and their 2,700 branch locations;
• Upgrading its ecommerce platforms with the latest cloud technology;
• Launching personalized ecommerce capabilities for customers of any size or industry;
• Developing a new mobile app, making it easier for retail customers to buy online;
• Expanding services and offering 24/7 customer support for repairs and ordering parts.

“Customers want more options across all our digital channels,” Steffen says.

With the introduction of a new mobile app that the company is calling Cat Central, Caterpillar is helping its customers to find, research and buy parts directly from the job site or any location.

The new app gives customers easier ordering of genuine Cat parts, a QR code to instantly access verified-to-fit parts, save their equipment for faster shopping, and real-time access to parts support specialists.

Caterpillar’s Cat Central also gives customers multiple payment and delivery options

• Free and flexible in-store pickup
• Support resources, including manuals and fault code descriptions
• Features for equipment management, financing, and customer loyalty rewards

“Cat Central offers do-it-myself customers one central place for easy access to ordering parts and general support resources, while providing a faster shopping and purchasing experience,” Caterpillar says. “This app enables customers to order on the go anywhere — freeing up the time to focus on the job at hand.”

As a major manufacturer, Caterpillar is, of course, big, international, and diversified. The company has about 20 brands, employs about 109,000 workers at more than 150 primary locations, does business on every continent, and has more than 4 million Cat products at work around the world.

But a big driver for Caterpillar’s digital strategy — Cat Digital — is an inventory of more than 1.4 million connected assets.

“Virtually all assets are now connected when delivered to customers, so this number grows every day. More connected assets mean more data,” the company says. “And more data allows us to become even more customer-centric, helping customers improve safety and productivity, minimize downtime, and maximize asset utilization.”

Cat Digital alerts customers when to schedule maintenance

Cat Digital has multiple moving parts, including making it easier to do business online, building data infrastructure in the cloud, and using data to help predict issues before they occur, the company says.

For example, Caterpillar’s latest equipment management application, VisionLink, allows customers to access all their asset information for both Caterpillar and other owned, leased or rented equipment in one centralized place. Dashboards allow customers to track by projects, groups, and geofences, and “Needs Review” is a new feature that brings focus to instances that need action, creates workflows to schedule tasks, and provides links to buy parts or request services.  A task management feature creates and assigns tasks to ensure maintenance or service completion, and an app keeps customers updated with key metrics, asset locations, fuel levels, idle time, among other metrics.

Ogi Redzic, chief digital officer, Caterpillar Inc.

“Three years ago, Caterpillar’s equipment management portfolio was split across three different digital products, Chief Digital Officer Ogi Redzic said in a recent LinkedIn post. “Although they were good products, we knew we had an opportunity to create an even better customer experience by streamlining these solutions into a single offering, delivering a premium and consistent customer experience. Our vision was to create an integrated, OEM-agnostic tool that makes it easy to do business with Caterpillar – whether that’s buying parts, arranging services, or resolving maintenance issues.”

Caterpillar implementing levels of digital integration

Going forward, Caterpillar is implementing three levels of digital integration, Redzic says.

“It begins with the physical layer — working to fit all our machines with the best connectivity possible going forward, whether 4G cellular, satellite, WiFi, or Bluetooth. Then we have the platform layer, where we ingest data, process it, and make it available for consumption,” he wrote in a recent company post. “And finally, we have an application layer where we build applications for a particular segment or need. Throughout the process, we apply machine learning to improve our products and services. We’re engaging with some of the best companies in the world to advance our machine-learning capabilities, and I think we’re making incredible progress. We can process large amounts of data in real time and validate and improve our machine learning models quickly.”

Caterpillar’s next task in ecommerce, Steffen says, is developing additional features that ease researching and purchasing online to ensure customers find the right parts and services for the job. By expanding the digital integration with the dealer network through new APIs, or application programming interfaces, Caterpillar is focused on creating more visibility and options for last mile delivery, he says.

“We know where the customers’ pain points are,” Steffen says. “Our job is to eliminate them and make it even easier for our customers to use ecommerce when doing business with Cat and our dealers.”

EnvisionB2B 2023 keynote

Brent Steffen will give a keynote address on June 21 on innovation in B2B ecommerce at the EnvisionB2B 2023 Conference & Exhibition in Chicago.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes B2B News content.

The post The long history of Caterpillar’s ecommerce journey appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

New developments include expanded free-shipping deals and artificial intelligence and machine learning applications to better match customer demand with available products from suppliers, says Todd Heimes, director and general manager, Amazon Business Worldwide. An inside look at the Amazon Business growth strategy is one of several articles on B2B marketplaces in the just-released Building Better B2B Marketplaces report.

In addition, Amazon Business has increased its sales and account services with large enterprises, including the procurement of direct goods used as components in manufacturing as well as the more common indirect goods like office supplies companies purchase for their internal operations.

The companies that use Amazon Business, meanwhile, are leaning more toward new ways of connecting with the marketplace that include using an application programming interface and avoiding its dot-com interface altogether.

“That’s exciting — and that’s where we’re headed,” says Chris Costello, executive vice president of worldwide strategic accounts.

Among the other marketplaces trends in the report:

• Industrial products distributor Bay Fastening Systems’ BaySupply.com has developing purchasing features designed to help its customers work for efficiently, including with new online payment options;
• Germany-based apparel marketplace Fashion Cloud is entering the U.S. market with plenty of venture capital;
• The trucking industry is driving ahead with marketplaces like Convoy;
• Steer Technologies has a marketplace recipe for helping the restaurant industry;

• AVIA Marketplace is bringing a fresh face to B2B commerce in healthcare.

The Building Better B2B Marketplaces report is available as a free download.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact editor Paul Demery at paul@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @pdemery.

Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when new Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content is published.

The post B2B marketplaces refine their expansion strategies appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

Ann Fandozzi, CEO, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

In addition to record gross transaction volume on their online B2B marketplace, Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc. also made a key acquisition. For the year ended Dec. 31, gross transaction value (GTV) for its online auction and “buy-now” marketplace sites grew to $6.025 billion. That’s up 9% from $5.533 billion in 2021. In comparison, total revenue, which includes inventory sales and services, increased 22% to $1.7 billion. Net income for the year increased 110% to $319.8 million.

“We delivered record financial results and made significant progress in continuing to build our marketplace technology and advancing our growth initiative, despite operating in a challenging environment of continued tight supply, inflationary headwinds, aggressive competition, and foreign exchange volatility,” says CEO Ann Fandozzi.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is also rethinking how it will expand it its B2B marketplace and digital footprint, Fandozzi says.

“We are transforming Ritchie Brothers from a traditional auction business to a trusted global marketplace for insight services and transaction solutions. And we continued our journey by taking several important steps in 2022,” she says. “Ritchie Brothers 2.0, our marketplace technology platform, is in the process of piloting an all new digital check-out experience with self-serve invoices and settlements.”

Acquiring IAA to accelerate growth

Vancouver, Canada-based Ritchie Bros. said in November that it would acquire Westchester, Illinois-based IAA, which facilitates the marketing and sale of total-loss, damaged and low-value vehicles, in a $7.3 billion cash-and-stock deal.

“We identified IAA as a potential combination for Ritchie Brothers back in 2020, and together with our board of directors have evaluated a possible acquisition of IAA for more than a year,” Fandozzi says. “The strategic logic of this combination is clear. With IAA, we believe we can accelerate growth for Ritchie Brothers, drive margin expansion and expand our reach into an attractive adjacent vertical.”

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at mark@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when new Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content is published.   

The post A B2B marketplace makes a big move for market share growth appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.