The renewed supplier portal of Intergamma was built in record time
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2006
"Intergamma aspires to become the best omni-channel retailer in the Benelux. To achieve this, high-quality data is necessary."
Improving omnichannel product position
For many do-it-yourselfers, a job starts online. Here they start to investigate how and with which products they get a job done. For this purpose the products must be findable, including the correct and complete product specifications. With the new supplier portal – which is based on SAP Commerce with SAP Product Content Management (PCM) – Intergamma and Acorel make it a lot easier for suppliers to maintain their product data and better position their products omnichannel.
Intergamma is the organization behind the do-it-yourself formulas Gamma in the Netherlands and Belgium and Karwei. With almost four hundred DIY stores in the Netherlands and Belgium, Intergamma is number one in the do-it-yourself market. “And we have the ambition to become the best omnichannel retailer in the Benelux”, says Ingmar Hensbergen, Manager Data Management at Intergamma. “We were already very active online, and because of corona, that channel has only become more important.”
The Best of Customer Success 2020
Intergamma was one of the 20 nominees for the digital SAP event ‘The Best of Customer Success 2020’ in the category ‘Customer Excellence’. Ingmar Hensbergen, Manager Data Management at Intergamma and Anouk Renaud, Intergamma Product Owner of the Product Content team talk about the new supplier portal in the video. Intergamma is our 2nd customer project this year that we were allowed to contribute to the digital SAP event ‘The Best of Customer Success 2020’.
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80% of our customers orientate themselves online first
According to Hensbergen, eighty percent of Intergamma’s customers first orientate themselves online before purchasing the products they need in our hardware stores or web shops. “We have more than 5 million visitors to our websites every week. So, if product data is not up to date, the customer may not find the product he needs, and the supplier misses out on revenue,” Hensbergen outlines. “Or the customer discovers in the store that the product information online was incorrect.”
More user-friendly supplier portal
According to Hensbergen, maintaining more than 100,000 products by their suppliers is ‘a big job’ for them. “With a smart lamp, there sometimes are over 150 fields that must be filled in. In total we are talking about more than 1 billion fields.” Moreover, it was not always easy for the suppliers to find a specific product in the supplier portal. “It was one big collection box that contained all the articles. The old supplier portal was not user-friendly and not fast enough.”
That had to change. Intergamma wanted to give the suppliers better opportunities to improve the overall quality of the product information. To be able to work faster, the suppliers had to get access to the same search and filter options that Intergamma already used internally. A renewal of the supplier portal was necessary to provide this. “And preferably as soon as possible, with as much value as possible. Every day that we did not go live with the renewed portal was a wasted day”, says Anouk Renaud, Intergamma Product Owner of the Product Content team.
“It has been a close collaboration. Not only between Business and IT, but also with the suppliers who could think along.”
One central data platform
Intergamma took on the renewal of the supplier portal together with SAP partner Acorel, Acorel is also part of the Scrum team that Renaud is responsible for. “Without Acorel, I wouldn’t have developers on this project.”
With SAP Commerce Cloud, the two parties implemented one central data platform for creating and maintaining high-quality product data from suppliers. According to Maurice Rootjes, managing partner at Acorel, SAP Commerce was an obvious choice. “In 2011, we set up a Product Information Management (PIM) system with SAP Product Content Management (PCM). Therefore, the next logical step is to also base the renewed supplier portal on SAP Commerce, so that the working method for the supplier matches the working method internally. Which allows you to switch gears quicker.”
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The implementation of SAP commerce in a record time
An agile approach provided the desired speed. Renaud: “You shouldn’t want too much at once, otherwise it will take too long. We therefore work in sprints of two weeks and deliver value every two weeks. This also enables us to respond more quickly to feedback from suppliers. We have always been honest and open about what is and is not possible.”
“It has been a close collaboration. Not only between Business and IT, but also with the suppliers who were able to make their wishes known during online workshops and who could contribute ideas”, Hensbergen continues. “After delivery of the renewed portal by Anouk’s team, we organized three online training courses with more than 400 external users at more than 200 suppliers. In this way, we were able to implement this portal very smoothly, in record time even. And all this during corona time.”
“The new supplier portal allows us to transition from a product-oriented to a 'job-oriented' company”
In the driver’s seat
“For most suppliers working on data is not the most favorite part of their job, but with the new portal we have really made it more fun for them. They are now in control,” concludes Hensbergen. “That ensures that they are more involved with data and can also work faster. A major advantage for suppliers is reducing the time needed on supplying and maintaining their product data compared to the old portal with 50%. And this at a time when more and more data is required. For example, it is now much easier for them to filter within product groups and identify errors more quickly. Qualitatively better data results in a better positioning of their products on our websites. Changes in the data are almost immediately visible online for Intergamma customers and have a direct influence on the customer experience. Together, this generates more revenue for both of us.”
“The new supplier portal also helps us in the transition from a product-oriented to a ‘job-oriented’ company,” concludes Hensbergen. “You do not lay laminate, but a floor. That means you also need a subfloor, skirting boards, and the right tools. Then you also have to link information and advise the customer about the type of subfloor that, for example, is needed in an upstairs apartment with a certain type of laminate. To be able to make those combinations, data quality is very important. The new supplier portal contributes to that quality and transition.”