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Stenströms - Into the digital future with craftmanship and quality

Stenströms' digitalization journey transformed them from a pure B2B player to a modern retailer leveraging the benefits of their loyal retailers and their own B2C solution, selling directly to consumers, (D2C). The modern commerce solution expanded their market reach dramatically, but the brand values stayed intact. 

Type of project:

E-commerce, Business strategy, Digital strategy, In-store solution

Core products & technology:

Avensia Nitro with Optimizely Commerce Cloud (Episerver), Apptus eSales

Strategy

With no existing e-commerce in place, Stenströms started a digital transformation together with Avensia, who worked closely with Stenströms on the business strategy and the roadmap for the digital expansion and omnichannel development. 

Goals

Extend the market reach and increase sales by going from selling only via retailers to selling directly to consumers. Build a modern B2B site on the same modern e-commerce platform.

The challenge

Transfer brand values and traditions onto a digital platform

Tradition. Tailor-made craftmanship. Uniqueness.  Loyalty to retailers. How can these brand values be conveyed onto a digital platform? How can you attract a new and younger audience online and at the same time, keep the personal relationship with your existing customers and retailers?

During the initial meetings with Avensia’s advisors, Stenströms idea was to only have a small B2B site, to digitize and optimize their way of working with their agents and retailers. When the partnership between Stenströms and Avensia was signed, the ambition of the project was altered completely: The plan was now to build a future-proof and sophisticated B2B solution, and a B2C channel that would bring Stenströms products directly to their customers, beyond the limitations of shop opening hours.  

Some of the retailers have been acting as brand ambassadors for Stenströms for more than 50 years. With such loyal customers, there was a fear that the B2C site would change that valuable relationship.

Quote
The decision was controversial, it meant that we would be competing with our retailers in one way, but we were also determined to help them, by giving them a sophisticated B2B system.
Fredrik Strandberg, CEO, Stenströms
Stenstroms-hero-2pc-low
The solution

A seamless experience for relevant and inspirational shopping

The B2B site provides Stenströms’s agents, distributors and retailers with a better tool to handle their business. It contains several B2B functionalities like smart search, online ordering and tools for retailers to show customers the whole product line.

Stenströms value their retailers, their brand ambassadors, very high, which is why they went for a sophisticated omni-channel solution where the retailers can give the end consumer even better service in the physical store. Customers can try out the perfect fit of shirt in a physical store, store staff can show the customer all available variations of that shirt on a monitor or a tablet. They can easily hide the dealer price when showing products to customers.  They can then order products to be delivered directly to the customer’s home. This makes the B2B-solution an important and user-friendly sales tool for retailers. 

When selling the type of products Stenströms manufactures, where the look and feel breathes quality, it is important that the UX of the digital marketplace does the same.

I'm interested in this solution
Quote
That is why we didn’t want to give Stenströms just Best practice.  We wanted to give them Next practice. Stenströms should not just live up to today’s standards for an e-commerce experience, they must stand out, exceed standards and exceed expectations. A sophisticated solution, but still something that Stenströms could handle.
Johan Sommar, Senior Commerce Advisor, Avensia
Stenstroms-hero-low

New B2B system with great benefits

Retailers can now show end consumers the whole product range in a new way. This has had several results:

  • they now order more than just shirts
  • the sales of knitwear, blazers and accessories have gone up
  • many retailers have started to sell women’s wear as well
  • Stenströms sell more, in general

With the new B2B system, retailers can see stock status, and this has made them buy more when the supply is limited, and as a result, Stenströms empty their stock to a greater extent.

The result - a win-win situation for Stenströms and their retailers

The fears that Stenströms initially had about going online with the B2C site would steal customers and damage business with their retailers, have turned into confidence. With the insights that they have a well-managed omni-channel strategy to act on, they can not only strengthen their brand, but also be confident that Stenströms is a company in sync with modern consumer habits.

Quote
When the board took the decision to start with this digital product, we were discussing e-commerce. But Avensia taught us that this is not an e-commerce, it is a brand temple. Where you tell your story and show your products. We learned that the more we market the brand and the products, we create business for our retailers as well. A classic win-win situation.
Fredrik Strandberg, CEO, Stenströms

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