Background
Specialised Welding are a leading wholesaler of Welding Consumables, Machinery, and Safety Equipment in the UK and Ireland. As part of their strategy to scale, the business sought to modernise their digital operations. The team needed to consolidate their systems, streamline customer ordering, and create a future-proof B2B platform.
The challenge
One of the core challenges that Specialised Welding wanted to address was their fragmented systems. They had an existing non-transactional website that linked to a separate purchasing app, which, over time, necessitated a shift to a new eCommerce platform.
With a variety of background third-party tools in place, some inefficiencies needed smoothing over, minimising friction and complexities. The team wanted to bring their operations and processes into one, customer-friendly platform.
The business required gated access for their wholesale customers, as well as customer-specific price lists and bespoke ordering rules. Their existing set-up didn’t allow for this level of personalisation, and they had begun researching alternative platforms when they discovered SparkLayer.
Another key challenge they needed to address was customer adoption. They had many traditional customers who preferred ordering via phone or email. Historically, Specialised Welding had struggled to bring those customers on board with their previous digitalised B2B processes. Driving customer adoption was a cultural, as well as a technical, challenge.
With no in-house developers, the team needed a straightforward solution that they could get up and running with quickly. The business didn’t want to be reliant on heavy technical support or complex workarounds.
The solution
Specialised Welding chose Shopify as their core eCommerce platform and installed SparkLayer to unlock powerful B2B functionality. Their new setup integrates seamlessly with their ERP to synchronise pricing, stock, and orders with their back-office system.
With SparkLayer, the business was able to easily manage pricing and customer groups from one centralised location. They also introduced volume discounts and pack-size ordering, making it easier for their B2B customers to order in cost-effective quantities while aligning with warehouse efficiency.
Specialised Welding’s regional Sales reps have been set up as SparkLayer Sales Agents, enabling them to support customers digitally and encourage basket-building. Their team can masquerade-order on behalf of their customers, adding real value and a personalised experience.
The results
Specialised Welding were able to get set up rapidly with SparkLayer’s plug-and-play approach to wholesale eCommerce.
They originally manually managed hundreds of price lists that had been set up to reflect customer-specific deals. Using SparkLayer’s naive B2B tools, the team now save hours of manual updates each week. Updates that previously took an hour each day are now reduced to just a couple of hours each week.
Since launching with SparkLayer, the business has seen a consistent increase in monthly online sales, surpassing results from their previous B2B setup and achieving a 139% revenue growth in the first 12 months. With strong foundations in place, Specialised Welding can now run discounts and clearance campaigns for their wholesale buyers.
The increase in revenue and repeat orders is largely due to the success of their promotion strategy - customers are more inclined to purchase more often, or at higher volume, due to their campaigns.
Customers now benefit from a greatly improved experience, with clearer pricing, bulk discount options, and a simplified ordering process. Using SparkLayer, Specialised Welding have successfully transitioned more customers from offline to online ordering, driving higher adoption rates and boosting revenue, with online adoption increasing by 104%.
“When we first onboarded with SparkLayer, we asked one of their agents to log in and complete orders for us - that's a really good way to get people to use it! Some of our products have to be bought in pack sizes because it makes more sense for the warehouse, as they're not having to split up boxes. We also have a lot of variants of products, like our wires, which come in different sizes and in different packs as well. Again, this saves the warehouse team precious time - and it’s all time, isn't it? And time is money” ~ Daniel Fisher, eCommerce Sales and Digital Content Manager
Explore more
To learn more about Specialised Welding, their product range, and the story of their brand, visit their website.
To see how SparkLayer works with Shopify, you can explore via the links below: