MTI + AniArt: case study on launching a B2B portal
MTI is a leading multivendor distributor of hi-tech products on the Ukrainian market. Among the key business areas is the sale of technology through a dealer network.
AniArt is a leader in realization of large-scale projects for B2B and B2C trade and other business directions. Among the clients are Intertop.ua, Tous, Maxi.az, CAN School, Luxoptika, SOVA and others.
AniArt is a leader in realization of large-scale projects for B2B and B2C trade and other business directions. Among the clients are Intertop.ua, Tous, Maxi.az, CAN School, Luxoptika, SOVA and others.
Colleagues, the AniArt team is here. Today we are going to tell you about our case of cooperation with the largest distributor in Ukraine, which, we are sure, does not need to be introduced - MTI.
The company has been on the distribution market for 31 years, 120+ product categories in constant work, among the partners are the world's top brands including Samsung, Sony, Canon, IBM, Asus and others.
Recently, the company faced the need to increase the efficiency of interaction with its counterparties.
This situation arises when the number of business partners grows rapidly. As of today, 800+ suppliers and manufacturers are already cooperating with MTI.
The company has been on the distribution market for 31 years, 120+ product categories in constant work, among the partners are the world's top brands including Samsung, Sony, Canon, IBM, Asus and others.
Recently, the company faced the need to increase the efficiency of interaction with its counterparties.
This situation arises when the number of business partners grows rapidly. As of today, 800+ suppliers and manufacturers are already cooperating with MTI.
Here we would also like to give some statistics of the e-commerce market according to Statista and McKinsey (for 2020-2023):
1
93% of B2B buyers prefer to place an order online.
2
72% of B2B customers want to self-service through a personal account.
3
Productivity is 20-30% lower due to communication issues between departments and manual errors.
4
Product availability data is incorrect in 37% of manual updates. This leads to constant customer churn.
The development of a solution for every business should always start with analytics. You should analyze all business processes in detail, find problem areas, and only then start IT development. The solution should not complicate processes, it should automate and simplify them.
AniArt's solution
AniArt team started its work by analyzing.We deeply worked on 6 main areas:
AniArt team started its work by analyzing.We deeply worked on 6 main areas:
- 1How MTI interacts with dealers.
- 2How orders and returns are handled.
- 3What basic functionality dealers need in a B2B portal.
- 4Interaction with the design studio that thought through the UX.
- 5What is the architecture and regulation of interaction with the master system, which is Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
- 6Assessing readiness and compatibility with existing infrastructure to integrate the IT solution.
These 6 areas and should combine into an IT solution that will save the business money by optimizing its fixed costs, as well as significantly improve the process of selection and purchase of goods by wholesalers.
What are the challenges here:
Synchronization of business partners with MTI's existing ERP system (based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV).
High operational costs to support each partner, including staff expansion and increased budget for salaries.
Dealers need a convenient interface for orders. Counterparties are used to convenient personal accounts on large marketplaces that work without fail.
Lack of functionality of shipment order formation based on previously created reserves.
Lack of functionality of reviewing, informing about interim results and results of promotions and bonus programs.
Outdated data on availability of goods in warehouses and impossibility of their operative updating (the reason was that the price lists of goods were updated in Excel and sent to each dealer by e-mail).
Lack of technical resources to work with a large number of dealers and showcases.
Growth of sales to medium and small customers.
Growth in the number of active small and medium-sized customers.
Increased efficiency of MTI sales managers (more clients accompanied).
Expansion of the range of goods offered.
Assessment of opportunities to implement modern analytical tools and business intelligence.
Our team analyzed all business processes, saw the full picture, and proposed to create a comprehensive IT solution that would allow the business to:
Enable dealers to receive prompt and accurate information about products and financial status.
Minimize the cost of integrating new partners.
Create a unified standard of work with product cards
Automate financial reporting.
Create conditions for further scaling and development of the portal.
Ensure security and protection of customer and business partner data.
Enable dealers to receive prompt and accurate information about products and financial status.
Minimize the cost of integrating new partners.
Create a unified standard of work with product cards
Automate financial reporting.
Create conditions for further scaling and development of the portal.
Ensure security and protection of customer and business partner data.
Our task was to create a full-featured distributor web-portal with a functional personal account for each MTI dealer, where it is possible to work with product cards, support unlimited number of companies within dealers and users within.
B2B portal realization for MTI: functionality
Integration of the functionality with MTI's ERP system.
Developed an MVP of a B2B portal to evaluate the efficiency of key processes.
- Full-fledged development. The functionality will be discussed below.
- Further development and support at the first stages.
What modules it was decided to include in the core functionality:
Work with the catalog (availability of goods in warehouses, actual prices, prices of a particular dealer, individual visibility of goods).
Product card.
Shopping cart.
Checkout (payment page).
Order management, returns.
Financial reporting.
User groups (role models).
Marketing programs and promotions.
Administrative panel.
User cabinet with detailed information on orders, reserves, returns, financial information, price lists, service requests, repair history, delivery status, bonus programs, as well as comprehensive ability to manage all processes.
Work with the catalog (availability of goods in warehouses, actual prices, prices of a particular dealer, individual visibility of goods).
Product card.
Shopping cart.
Checkout (payment page).
Order management, returns.
Financial reporting.
User groups (role models).
Marketing programs and promotions.
Administrative panel.
User cabinet with detailed information on orders, reserves, returns, financial information, price lists, service requests, repair history, delivery status, bonus programs, as well as comprehensive ability to manage all processes.
Based on the above requirements, it was decided to implement the B2B portal as a web application with full data synchronization with the master system and partial data storage for fail-safe operation.
Let's consider the functionality.
Let's consider the functionality.
The goods have a number of states, this is shown in the catalog. Thus the dealer has the opportunity to buy goods at a reduced price - for example, goods with damaged packaging.
Inventory balances by warehouse are also taken into account.
Important: the dealer can add goods to the cart according to the specified warehouse or from all available warehouses. This solution allows the dealer to pick up the goods from the desired warehouse:
Important: the dealer can add goods to the cart according to the specified warehouse or from all available warehouses. This solution allows the dealer to pick up the goods from the desired warehouse:
The data in the catalog of goods, namely balances and prices, are synchronized in real time, which allows you to avoid incorrect data when ordering.Also immediately from the catalog you can make a reserve:
There is a separate group of goods that is sold from a separate warehouse. There is no provision for this group.
We have also implemented hiding of separate goods for certain users. That is, each dealer sees his own specific list of goods, which is defined in the accounting base.
In addition, we added the functionality of card visibility - for example, not to show products that are out of stock or that will no longer be delivered to the warehouse:
We have also implemented hiding of separate goods for certain users. That is, each dealer sees his own specific list of goods, which is defined in the accounting base.
In addition, we added the functionality of card visibility - for example, not to show products that are out of stock or that will no longer be delivered to the warehouse:
Search on the B2B portal was realized in 2 types: quick search and separate search page.
Quick search is a familiar drop-down window that contains a list of products with the ability to go to the necessary card:
Quick search is a familiar drop-down window that contains a list of products with the ability to go to the necessary card:
But a separate search page, repeating all the functions of the catalog, allows you to sort cards by the desired parameters:
Product card
The product card contains basic information - photos, price and characteristics:
The product card contains basic information - photos, price and characteristics:
The pricing functionality includes the price from each warehouse (filtered by city), the recommended selling price for a particular user, and the price for an item that is sold at a discount (or after repair, with defective packaging, etc.).
Prices for discounted items also have a total price and a dealer-specific price:
Product characteristics are presented in the form of fields of different format - for each of the fields the format is defined in the administrative panel.
Depending on the type of goods, filtering is possible both by warehouses and by fields of characteristics.
Product characteristics are represented as fields of different format - for each of the fields the format is defined in the administrative panel.
Depending on the type of product, filtering is possible both by warehouses and by characteristics fields.
Prices for discounted items also have a total price and a dealer-specific price:
Product characteristics are presented in the form of fields of different format - for each of the fields the format is defined in the administrative panel.
Depending on the type of goods, filtering is possible both by warehouses and by fields of characteristics.
Product characteristics are represented as fields of different format - for each of the fields the format is defined in the administrative panel.
Depending on the type of product, filtering is possible both by warehouses and by characteristics fields.
Shopping cart
The cart is organized by warehouse, with a separate "From any warehouse" option.
For each warehouse you can ship the marked items or add them to the reserve. When adding to a reserve, you can add items to an old, previously created reserve, or create a new one.
Also in the shopping cart you can see all financial information about shipment possibilities + order summary. Here it is possible to suggest your own price that the dealer wants to pay (-/+ 5%).
Upon confirmation, a request is sent to the main MTI database:
The cart is organized by warehouse, with a separate "From any warehouse" option.
For each warehouse you can ship the marked items or add them to the reserve. When adding to a reserve, you can add items to an old, previously created reserve, or create a new one.
Also in the shopping cart you can see all financial information about shipment possibilities + order summary. Here it is possible to suggest your own price that the dealer wants to pay (-/+ 5%).
Upon confirmation, a request is sent to the main MTI database:
Checkout (payment page).
The checkout selects the payer of the contract, power of attorney, and delivery method. Only valid contracts and powers of attorney are offered.
The checkout selects the payer of the contract, power of attorney, and delivery method. Only valid contracts and powers of attorney are offered.
At the same time it is also possible to offer your own price, as it is realized in the shopping cart.
The choice of delivery method is possible in 3 variants:
Delivery to the address.
Delivery to the post office.
Self-delivery
Each of the methods has a separate functionality in the system. You can also select the date and time of the order, enter the order number and comment:
When creating an order (created outside the portal), the contract is checked by terms and goods (some contracts are made for a list of goods), the power of attorney is checked by terms and the integrity of the entire structure (whether the contract or power of attorney really belongs to this payer and company).
The data is transferred to the main database. Then synchronization and transfer to the order itself takes place.
Order management, returns
In this module the user has access to orders, order history, returns, returns history:
The data is transferred to the main database. Then synchronization and transfer to the order itself takes place.
Order management, returns
In this module the user has access to orders, order history, returns, returns history:
It is possible to change parameters in the order, i.e. contract, power of attorney and delivery method:
Depending on the product in the order, different functionality is possible - shipment or just displaying information about the placed order.
Depending on the product in the order, different functionality is possible - shipment or just displaying information about the placed order.
The goods are displayed in a table with filtering and sorting. The order is synchronized in real time. Export to Excel is possible:
The functionality of linked orders has been implemented, when several orders with different properties (for example, from different warehouses) are formed on the basis of 1 order.
In this case, the orders become independent, but linked to the main order:
Linked orders are displayed in the main order with the ability to go to each individual linked order.In the history we see a list of shipped items with the ability to view product cards, shipment parameters and shipping addresses.The history of returns and refunds is implemented similarly to orders.
Financial Reporting
Users who have access to financial information can receive summarized financial reporting, which is generated outside the B2B portal.
Currently there are 5 types of reports with parameters:
① Customer transaction book.
② Overdue debt.
③ Amount of provision (detailed report).
④ Detailed balance sheet.
⑤ Payment schedule.
In this case, the orders become independent, but linked to the main order:
Linked orders are displayed in the main order with the ability to go to each individual linked order.In the history we see a list of shipped items with the ability to view product cards, shipment parameters and shipping addresses.The history of returns and refunds is implemented similarly to orders.
Financial Reporting
Users who have access to financial information can receive summarized financial reporting, which is generated outside the B2B portal.
Currently there are 5 types of reports with parameters:
① Customer transaction book.
② Overdue debt.
③ Amount of provision (detailed report).
④ Detailed balance sheet.
⑤ Payment schedule.
Work with TCH (history, binding to documents)
Here the user can view the information on TTN (Novaya Pochta) with the possibility of search, filtering and sorting.
TTNs are linked to documents (documents contain a list of all TTNs). Synchronization with Novaya Pochta is fully established:
Management of repair service information (repair status, history)
Since MTI has its own repair service, the dealer can get real-time information on repair statuses and history.
In this module we can see the entire list of repair invoices. In each individual invoice we can see all the items that are linked to it.
It is possible to search for goods by name, code. Sorting and filtering is implemented
Users
Added functionality of marketing programs.
What is the essence: dealers can earn extra money for fulfillment of certain conditions.
For example, a promotion on turnover: MTI sets the amount of turnover at 5000 UAH (in some category) and the dealer, having fulfilled the condition, receives a 2% reward. And it is possible that the bonus will depend not on the fulfillment of the entire condition, but on the achievement of a certain stage.
Only commercial director can apply for participation in the program
The card displays the stages of the bonus program and the degree of their fulfillment. The card also displays the participation criteria, the goods covered by the bonus and, actually, the participation status.
Control panel (administrative panel)
The admin panel is divided into several sections.
Here the user can view the information on TTN (Novaya Pochta) with the possibility of search, filtering and sorting.
TTNs are linked to documents (documents contain a list of all TTNs). Synchronization with Novaya Pochta is fully established:
Management of repair service information (repair status, history)
Since MTI has its own repair service, the dealer can get real-time information on repair statuses and history.
In this module we can see the entire list of repair invoices. In each individual invoice we can see all the items that are linked to it.
It is possible to search for goods by name, code. Sorting and filtering is implemented
Users
Added functionality of marketing programs.
What is the essence: dealers can earn extra money for fulfillment of certain conditions.
For example, a promotion on turnover: MTI sets the amount of turnover at 5000 UAH (in some category) and the dealer, having fulfilled the condition, receives a 2% reward. And it is possible that the bonus will depend not on the fulfillment of the entire condition, but on the achievement of a certain stage.
Only commercial director can apply for participation in the program
The card displays the stages of the bonus program and the degree of their fulfillment. The card also displays the participation criteria, the goods covered by the bonus and, actually, the participation status.
Control panel (administrative panel)
The admin panel is divided into several sections.