E-commerce Adobe Commerce
Wholesale & distribution

Fermob Contract: a new B2B digital platform

A must-have brand for French-made designer outdoor furniture, Fermob is a real hit with consumers looking for color and joie de vivre. The group also generates 25% of its revenue in B2B and has strong growth ambitions in this market. Fermob Contract, which brings together the Fermob and Vlaemynck brands, is an offering dedicated to hospitality and food service professionals. In the group’s sales strategy, the sales force is on the front line, helping customers design their outdoor spaces. On the digital side, Fermob turned to Synolia x Adobe Commerce B2B to create an inspirational online sales site that supports its sales teams.

Supporting B2B growth with an online sales channel

With its original designs and signature colors, Fermob is the go-to brand for outdoor furniture… made in France! Based in Thoissey, in the Ain department, it sells its creations across France and around the world, to consumers and professionals alike.
In fact, the group created Fermob Contract to grow its B2B business: an offering dedicated to restaurant and hotel professionals, companies, local authorities, and healthcare facilities.

 

“We help professionals design their spaces and create places with a real identity…”
Fermob Contract
With its consulting-led, personalized approach, the Fermob group favors human contact and a strong field sales presence. It therefore wanted the Fermob Contract e-commerce site to work as a channel that complements its sales organization.

The Fermob brief

An inspirational online sales site to back up the sales teams.

 

The Fermob Contract site is designed to support the group’s business growth in the B2B market, both in France and internationally. It is an inspiring platform that lets customers place their routine and restocking orders on their own. Meanwhile, the sales teams can spot new contacts and large-scale projects that call for advice and hands-on support.

“Our goal is to be 100% in the field and 100% digital. This new sales channel is first and foremost meant to support our sales force, helping it identify new leads and taking some transactional steps off its plate. ”
Benjamin Balatin, Transformation Director, Groupe Fermob
The Fermob Contract site is therefore a pillar of the group’s sales and digital strategy. To deliver it, the transformation, sales, and digital teams sought end-to-end support.

Synolia x Adobe Commerce

The Fermob group chose Synolia for the technical quality of our response to its request for proposals. The proposed solution, the B2B edition of Adobe Commerce, covered all of its needs. On the human side, too, our teams quickly understood the group’s expectations and built a climate of trust. From scoping (September 2021) to go-live (June 2022), the project was delivered in just a few months, using an agile approach.

 

Synolia and Adobe Commerce logos

 

Our services for Fermob: requirements scoping interviews, recommendation of the Adobe Commerce solution, coordination with the Axome agency (in charge of graphic design), functional and technical specifications, platform and interface development, and user training.

“Trust in the Synolia and Adobe teams was decisive: they immediately understood what we wanted to do. It is a transparent relationship, with real team spirit and shared responsibility when it comes to finding solutions. A year later, everything has gone just as we imagined, despite a fairly tight schedule.”
Florence Vanet, Head of Digital, Groupe Fermob

A B2B platform with B2C inspiration!

For the Synolia teams, recommending Adobe Commerce was the obvious choice. The platform offers all the essential ordering features professionals need, along with the ability to manage inspirational content simply and intuitively. Articles, trend boards, layout ideas… Professional customers get all the advice usually found on B2C sites and blogs.

 

“Beyond our products, we offer outdoor space design services and advice. Providing inspirational content, around trends for example, lets us offer our customers an experience that is both creative and transactional, which sets us apart and can trigger the purchase. ”
Florence Vanet, Head of Digital, Groupe Fermob

Connected to the group’s ERP, PIM, and CRM, the e-commerce platform is now fully integrated into Fermob’s information system.
For the sales teams, the site is a new touchpoint that helps them identify prospects, better understand their expectations, and respond to them more effectively!

“Tracking the customer journey is key to offering a personalized experience, so customers can benefit from specific discounts and get visibility on their deliveries.”
Benjamin Balatin, Transformation Director, Groupe Fermob

The results, and what’s next for Fermob Contract!

Today, the Fermob group’s leadership is fully satisfied with the new platform and recognizes that the project has helped their teams grow. It brought them a new way of working (agile), a new sales channel in their B2B market, new technology, easy administration… The Fermob teams feel enriched by this collaboration with Synolia and Adobe.

And the project does not stop there! For next season, the teams plan to open the Fermob Contract platform to new countries to grow their business with professionals in Europe and beyond. We will be there for them.

 

The group’s goals for Fermob Contract’s first year

80%

new customers acquired

50

leads converted,
and 100 leads in year two

€1.8M

in revenue growth
in European markets

 

Watch the project video!

 

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