Igual: a more efficient ecommerce site with Oro 5.1

Igual, a family-owned and independent company based in Occitania, has specialized in distributing hygiene solutions to professionals for over fifty years. From detergents to hand dryers, it offers a wide range of products and equipment, catering to both private companies and public institutions. Its motto? Customer satisfaction. Igual positions itself as a pioneer in the complex hygiene market. The company aims to present the clearest possible product catalog and enable its customers to make informed choices regarding their hygiene product selections. To achieve this, it relies on a high-performance ecommerce site and top-notch partners: Synolia and OroCommerce!

Towards a more efficient B2B ecommerce platform

Founded in 1971 in the heart of Montpellier, Igual is a family-owned and independent company specializing in the distribution of hygiene products. It operates in the B2B ecommerce market, serving cleaning companies, local authorities, cafes, hotels, restaurants, and more. With 28% of its revenue generated through online sales, the performance of the ecommerce platform and the clarity of the product catalog are key aspects of the company’s strategy, and crucial for customer satisfaction.

To address this, in 2021, Igual decided to overhaul its aging ecommerce platform using OroCommerce (version 4.2) and a local integration partner. The goal was to provide more ease and autonomy for customers in placing their orders. Mission accomplished with the OroCommerce solution. However, a year later, the company wanted to take the platform and its features, particularly the search engine, a step further.

Thus, Pauline Rossignol, Igual’s head of communication and ecommerce, turned to Synolia to take over the management of the OroCommerce platform and optimize its performance.

The Igual brief

A complete project takeover, consulting expertise, and support to continuously improve the performance of the B2B ecommerce platform.

In a context where technology providers continuously release new versions of their solutions, Igual quickly expressed the need to upgrade its OroCommerce 4.2 platform to version 5.0. The objectives:

• Fix bugs reported by the teams and secure the platform.
• Reassure the teams about the platform’s stability and performance.
• Integrate new features (particularly for search).

Synolia x OroCommerce

In the summer of 2022, Synolia was chosen to take over Igual’s OroCommerce (4.2) platform, prioritizing the fixing of bugs experienced by the teams.

We then began a consulting mission regarding the platform version upgrade. Igual wanted to migrate to version 5.0 to obtain new features. We recommended waiting a few more months (until January 2023) to migrate directly to version 5.1, which is even more efficient.

New features to enhance the experience for both Igual teams and customers

Internally, the teams using the ecommerce site (inside sales, field sales, customer service) immediately recognized the advantages of the new platform and its features. Among their favorites:

• Product search by synonyms, 100% configurable by the Igual teams. An essential feature, considering that customer terminology can vary by industry.
• Saving searches as favorites.
• Back-in-stock alerts for favorite searches.

New marketing opportunities

The performance and new features of the platform enabled Igual’s marketing team to advance their efforts. They can now highlight a product selection of the month and, soon, clearance products. They can also integrate dynamic promotional visuals personalized according to client types. Finally, they can link website promotional offers with their email marketing and social media campaigns.

And more!

The new OroCommerce platform has opened up new perspectives for the Igual teams. Pauline Rossignol plans to integrate the platform with their newsletter tool, marketing automation, and customer service.

Additionally, the platform’s performance has renewed confidence and motivation among the sales teams to broaden their client base. Igual is considering allowing any professional visitor to place orders without necessarily creating an account with customer service.

Project benefits

• Significant time and cost savings in order entry (better conversion rate, increased average basket size, and increased revenue).
• Greater customer autonomy in placing orders (30% of total orders are placed through the site). The sales and customer service teams can then focus on customers and orders where they add real value.
• More frequent promotional offers.
• New perspectives for the company’s digital strategy with integration, SEO, and lead generation projects, as well as the possibility of a marketplace being studied with suppliers.