Download PDFThey say that good things come from bad situations. Despite the challenges we all face from this global pandemic, Colart has genuinely been fortunate to see many good things happen. The most recent of these is the launch of our new business-to-business (B2B) portal, which you can view here.
Launched on 12th November, this has been a cross-functional group effort including our digital, technology, sales, marketing, project management and SIOP teams. They have all worked together tirelessly to get this built and launched within just a few months. Marking a key milestone, this is yet another digital innovation accelerated to implementation to ensure we stay ahead of the game in the ‘new normal’.
Our B2B portal is a bespoke design for Colart business-to-business customers. Typically, these would be our smaller retail channel stores. For the first time, these customers will have the ability to place orders with us online, access product information, view the latest promotions, learn about new product launches, and review training material and marketing assets, all from one central place.
The first phase launches to the UK market, with the next steps, including the addition of Lefranc Bourgeois products. We will then rollout to Italy and Eastern Europe. We will then introduce this portal to remaining countries and regions, as determined by our commercial teams, throughout 2021.
The project team have a roadmap of new features to enhance the user experience. These include improved marketing capabilities, the ability for the sales team to build orders for customers, e-learning integration and the delivery of PIM data and Bank assets.
The features available for the first phase launch in the UK include:
- New products – immediate visibility and access to new products as soon as they are available
- Orders built in real-time – build orders whilst checking stock levels in the warehouse or shop
- Improved accuracy – fewer touchpoints reduces errors and invoice queries
- Improved efficiency – orders loaded directly into our ordering process system
- Multi-platform – can be used with any web-enabled device