Online orders doubled since launch / Powerful PIM and shop system from a single source / Special B2B functionalities
“Added value for professionals” – this is what both the IGEPA group, a leading European wholesale group for paper, printing consumables, advertising materials and packaging, and the software company novomind AG stand for. IGEPA’s online shop, which is based on novomind’s product information management (PIM) and shop system software solution with functionalities tailored to IGEPA’s specific needs, meets the requirements of business customers and gives them access to IGEPA’s product range around the clock.
“B2B online shopping can be just as easy, flexible, personalised and smart as in the B2C segment. This is demonstrated by IGEPA’s web shop, which we have set up together with the IGEPA project team as a central, future-proof e-commerce platform with customised features based on novomind’s high-performance systems,” says novomind’s COO Stan Carstensen. novomind iSHOP and novomind iPIM ensure the perfect interaction between the shop system and the central product data management software.
New e-commerce platform doubles online orders
IGEPA’s new unified web shop has been very well received. Two years after the launch of the new e-commerce platform, online orders have doubled. There are currently around 21,000 users and 16,000 registered customers. “Customer feedback has been very positive. Once customers decide to use the online channel, they stick with it,” says IGEPA’s E-Commerce Manager, Steven Müller. IGEPA’s new e-commerce platform was launched in 2022. It replaced the previous fragmented system landscape with numerous applications and isolated solutions across the IGEPA group. Twelve systems were consolidated. The rollout in the Czech Republic followed in December 2023.
The IGEPA group consists of seven medium-sized wholesale companies. When novomind iPIM was introduced as the central product data management system, data from six different databases had to be merged. IGEPA’s product range comprises around 70,000 listed items.
Whether they are ordering paper by the pallet or truckloads of packaging material, professional printing consumables or advertising materials – IGEPA’s state-of-the-art online shop offers special features tailored to the needs of corporate and business customers. These include a range of highly customisable ordering interfaces such as the eLink, which replicates a bespoke analogue order form. Overviews of orders or call-offs under framework agreements can be viewed at any time, as can stock and availability, shared shopping carts and the order status. Functions such as the smart shopping cart with time-controlled, automated completion and the high performance of the systems ensure short checkout times.
IGEPA’s platform offers a personalisation option that allows the use of customised item numbers and names, as well as the creation of customer-specific price lists. In addition, the e-commerce platform is based on a detailed roles and rights concept at employee, customer and company level, which allows to define personal access rights to be defined for individual persons and organisations.
