PFERD Case Study

Executive Summary

In the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape, businesses must adapt and innovate to thrive. PFERD, a company with over two centuries of tradition, found itself at a crossroads when faced with an outdated SAP shop system that hindered its ability to provide exceptional customer experiences. PFERD’s remarkable transformation journey, powered by Spryker, enabled the tool manufacturer to successfully increase revenue, improve operational efficiency, and enhance the customer experience, leading to a surge in customer registrations. PFERD’s story is a testament to the power of technology and strategic decision-making to achieve excellence in the digital age.

Client Background

PFERD is leading in the development, production, and support, as well as in the distribution of tool solutions for work on surfaces and material cutting. In keeping with a tradition that dates back more than 200 years, PFERD operates as an independent, internationally-oriented, family-owned company geared towards the long term. PFERD tools offer the user maximum benefit and optimum cost-effectiveness. Its unlimited commitment to premium quality, its reliability as a supplier, and its responsible use of resources all make PFERD a dependable and reliable trading partner that operates with sustainability in mind.

PFERD maintains a strong international presence with global headquarters in Marienheide, Germany, and production facilities in Spain, the United States, South Africa, and China. In 2022, the company achieved a remarkable €328 million in turnover with 1,950 employees across seven production locations and more than 20 international sales companies. PFERD’s commitment to quality, reliability, and responsible resource management has solidified its reputation as a trusted, long-term partner, earning clients’ confidence worldwide.

The Challenge

Before implementing Spryker, PFERD faced significant challenges with its outdated SAP shop system. The legacy platform had grown increasingly complex and obsolete, resulting in a subpar customer experience and journey. This system primarily served as an internal sales tool for subsidiaries not integrated into their SAP ERP landscape, allowing for efficient order placement but needing more modern customer-focused functionalities. SAP presented its new, updated solution as this system had reached its end of life. PFERD initiated a software evaluation, with SAP as a high-priority option due to familiarity with the vendor. However, PFERD had business objectives that inspired them to also consider alternative platforms.

Among these objectives, the company aimed to consolidate its separate website and shop systems into a single solution, enhancing data management efficiency. Objectives also included improving B2B functionalities, creating a unified customer interaction portal, increasing efficiency, boosting revenue, and targeting distributors and industrial customers.

Furthermore, PFERD sought to implement notable new functionalities that their customers had come to expect. This included visibility of customer-specific net prices, product availability, quick order functionality, role-based permissions, enriched product data, optimized search, and a synchronization interface that allowed rapid updates, which would significantly improve the previous system’s infrequent adjustments.

The Solution

PFERD conducted a thorough software evaluation of multiple vendors to ensure they partnered with one that would meet all of their business objectives. Although SAP was initially a preferred choice due to familiarity and existing relationships, PFERD embarked on a new direction by selecting Spryker, a cloud-based solution. The decision was motivated by Spryker’s state-of-the-art, flexible, and modular platform with certain out-of-the-box functionalities requiring minimal customization. The cost-effectiveness of Spryker’s all-in-one solution further reinforced this choice, as it provided the best economic value while maintaining the lowest total cost of ownership compared to other options.

The implementation was handled by Spryker partner Diva-e – a specialist in e-commerce and system integration. With a strong team, the digital experts proceeded with the integration of the new solution into the existing software architecture and SAP system. The close cooperation between Diva-e and Spryker ensured the best possible outcome regarding technology and consulting. The focus was on the new interfaces and integrations for the content management system (CMS) and the product information management system (PIM). The PIM system and SAP were connected via Diva-e’s TXP Integration Hub. The benefit is that data is consolidated and aggregated for a straightforward and seamless exchange with the Spryker platform. After extensive user acceptance testing, the new PFERD B2B platform went live.

PFERD underwent a thorough software evaluation process, with SAP initially holding a high priority due to our familiarity with the vendor. However, we ventured into a new era by choosing the Spryker cloud solution over SAP. Our decision was driven by the belief that Spryker offered a state-of-the-art, flexible, and modular platform with out-of-the-box functionalities, minimizing the need for extensive customization. Cost considerations also played a vital role, and Spryker emerged as the best economic solution. Ultimately, our choice of Spryker was driven by its cost-effectiveness, cutting-edge features, and the lowest total cost of ownership compared to other alternatives.
– Michael Häcke – Head of Product Data & Digital Services

Enhancing the shopping Experience with Spryker

This transition to Spryker introduced several key functionalities that were previously absent but now add substantial value to the shop. Notably, customers can now view their discounted net prices, enhancing transparency and pricing competitiveness. Additionally, improved product availability visibility, quick order functionality, enriched product data with multimedia content, optimized search capabilities, and an efficient synchronization interface between PIM and SAP/ERP systems have all significantly contributed to streamlining operations and providing a superior shopping experience.

Swift Updates Propel PFERD to Success

Notably, the synchronization interface has drastically reduced the time required for updates, enabling PFERD to make changes within a mere 48 hours, a vast improvement compared to the previous adjustment timelines of 2 to 3 months. These enhancements have collectively transformed PFERD’s e-commerce capabilities and positioned them for continued growth and success.

Elevating Customer Interaction with Spryker’s 360-Degree Portal

The implementation of Spryker led to the creation of a 360-degree customer interaction portal, empowering customers to access a comprehensive array of features. This portal enables customers to manage their orders, track delivery status, access tracking links for transportation, view delivery notes, generate quotations, update customer master data, and access customer individual pricing with discounts and product availability information. Introducing these features significantly enhanced efficiency and reduced the need for direct engagement with PFERD’s employees, benefiting both the company and its customers.

The project’s progress continues with the successful launch of several webshops in Europe and globally, including Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and the United States of America. Despite its debut, the recently introduced German shop holds promising potential. Over the past year, the project celebrated 13 rollouts, signifying an upward trajectory in performance and revenue. Presently, the turnover is approximately 48 million euros with 40000 orders and 1500 customers, showcasing considerable financial progress compared to the previous SAP shop’s revenue of 30 million euros. The objective is to reach an achievable 50 million euros in revenue for the new shop this year.

The introduction of the new webshop, with Spryker at its core, has yielded substantial benefits. Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, driven by the platform’s enhanced functionalities. This surge in customer satisfaction has translated into increased revenue and a surge in customer registrations. From a sales perspective, the platform has empowered the sales team to focus on larger accounts while offering smaller customers, including end-users and retailers, a user-friendly self-service option.

In the realm of B2B functionalities, Spryker’s out-of-the-box features have met project requirements. Customizations have further enriched the platform with features such as “All Orders,” “Quotations,” “Frequently Purchased Products,” “Business on Behalf,” and a "Shopping List" feature for streamlined processes and convenience. These tailored features have significantly improved the platform’s utility and responsiveness to specific customer needs. A standout advantage of Spryker is the “Product Finder” feature, which has proven instrumental in guiding customers toward tailored product recommendations based on their application and material needs. Additionally, the platform now ensures that customers can only order quantities aligned with packaging units, streamlining order placement and simplifying the purchasing experience.

Our experience with the new system has been exceptionally positive. The feedback from our customers has been excellent, primarily due to the enhanced functionalities it offers. We can confidently say that we now have a superior solution in place. The results speak for themselves – not only have we witnessed a noticeable increase in revenue, but we’ve also seen a surge in customer registrations. This transition has met and exceeded our expectations, making our customers genuinely happy with the improved experience.
– Patrik Haas – Head of E-Commerce

Future Plans

Looking ahead, PFERD is eager to embark on a journey of further optimization in the realm of user experience. This marks a significant milestone in PFERD’s partnership as we collectively seek to enhance and refine the customer journey. The commitment to ongoing improvements underscores the long-lasting partnership we’ve cultivated, ensuring that our collaboration continues to evolve and meet the ever-changing needs of our customers.

PFERD’s remarkable achievements are an inspiring example of what can be accomplished by strategically adopting cutting-edge technology. By embracing Spryker, PFERD increased its revenue, streamlined its operations, and significantly improved the customer experience. The surge in customer registrations is a testament to the positive impact of these changes. As we look ahead, PFERD’s commitment to ongoing optimization promises a future of even greater success. This partnership between PFERD and Spryker showcases the boundless potential of e-commerce when driven by innovation, efficiency, and a relentless focus on customer satisfaction.

Powered by AWS

Thanks to AWS, Spryker was able to fulfill the customer's needs, when they needed it to make it a success. The composability on AWS is crucial to deliver the highest level of flexibility for customer requests. It allows the customer to select the best-of-breed components they need, which will work seamlessly and reliably straight away, thanks to Spryker being a truly composable platform and the high levels of service AWS has. Due to AWS, the onboarding takes from as little as 4 hours to 1-2 days, compared to months previously. With the Spryker Cloud Commerce OS solution, built on AWS, Spryker can scale computational and storage resources to accommodate the customer's goals.

About Spryker

Spryker is the leading composable commerce platform for enterprises with sophisticated business models to enable growth, innovation, and differentiation. Designed specifically for sophisticated transactional business, Spryker’s easy-to-use, headless, API-first model offers a best-of-breed approach that provides businesses the flexibility to adapt, scale, and quickly go to market while facilitating faster time-to-value throughout their digital transformation journey. As a global platform leader for B2B and B2C Enterprise Marketplaces, Thing Commerce, and Unified Commerce, Spryker has empowered 150+ global enterprise customers worldwide and is trusted by brands such as ALDI, Siemens, Hilti, and Ricoh. Spryker was recognized by Gartner® as a Visionary in the 2023 Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce and was also ranked as a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: B2B Commerce Solutions, Q2 2022. Spryker is a privately held technology company headquartered in Berlin and New York. Find out more at spryker.com

Spryker Website

PFERD’s Path to Prosperity: Boosting Revenue, Efficiency, and Customer Experience with Spryker