Guest Supply - A Digital Transformation That Increased AOV 12%

The Business Challenge

Guest Supply, the leader in hospitality supplies, was facing encroachment from competition. With a collection of over 30,000 products, and relationships with over 25,000 chains and independent properties, they needed to level up. Their homegrown digital commerce system, adopted by 70% of their buyers, was missing key functionality. They needed a digital commerce transformation, to stay on top of a multi-billion-dollar market.

Guest Supply recognized the value in making commerce and content investments, and needed to:

• create a modern, intuitive design for conversion
• personalize user experiences, from customer-specific order guides to tailored promotions
• store, update, access and provide real-time product data to buyers and internal teams
• handle complex transactions, e.g. large product lists, multiple locations, and checkout flexibility
• integrate business intelligence for helping the Guest Supply sales and service teams

The Solution

Guest Supply chose partners that could leverage sophisticated B2B systems:

• Xngage Strategy and Integration Services, creating a holistic plan to meet client objectives
• An Optimizely B2B Commerce Platform, including a Product Information Management System
• An Optimizely Content Management System
• A MotionPoint multiple language integration
• A Cloudinary integration to enhance product imagery

New functionality included:

• Multi-lingual UX: A clean, fresh, intuitive design in the language of a user’s choice
• Real-time Product Availability: sightlines to inventory in local markets to see local stock (as well as out-of-stocks) at the beginning of the online customer journey
• Custom-Order Guides: customer-specific catalogs, built on preferences and previous purchases
• Order Volume Scale: hundreds of products, with multiple users, in a single complete order
• Enhanced Check-out Features: standard or guest checkout with multiple delivery options

Results

Guest Supply customers were pleased with the upgrades. AOV increased by 12%. And per their annual Voice-of-the-Customer surveys, satisfaction increased by 60%. The transformation was a win for internal Guest Supply teams, too, creating better visibility and capabilities for managing their businesses. As Kristin Richards, Director of eCommerce stated, “We wanted the digital commerce experience to provide buyers with either self-service options OR connectivity to our team when they are needed most.” A new cloud-based commerce-and-content system – that also integrates business logic – made that a reality.