How an online flagship store serves trade partners and end customers at the same time

In 1959, carpenter Otger ter Hürne founded his craft business in Südlohn in Münsterland, near the Dutch border. In the beginning, he and his small team produced door frames. Over the decades, more and more products for the living area were added, above all panels for walls and ceilings as well as solid wood parquet. Today, ter Hürne is one of the leading manufacturers in the design, production and distribution of floors made of wood and other materials. The company now employs around 250 people.

When ter Hürne began to significantly digitalize its sales processes, the company quickly reached a conclusion: when it came to product information, there were massive weak points. Because the old online presence had also become hard to maintain, management made a decision. They wanted to build an e-commerce platform that would act as the central channel of a digital ecosystem and drive the digitalization of marketing and sales processes. Digital content and services were meant to serve B2B trade partners and B2C end customers equally well. For trade partners, the presence should support information gathering by providing media assets such as product images, descriptions or technical data sheets. And B2C end customers should be served optimally along their customer journey and be able to inform themselves comprehensively about the brand in their roles as builder, renovator, or home or trade professional.

Even though no e-commerce functionality was planned for the platform at first, ter Hürne chose Shopware 6 Professional Edition for the relaunch with an eye on the future. Within six months, a platform was implemented that currently presents around 900 items across more than 11 product lines, which in turn are divided into further categories. Trade partners and customers can inform themselves comprehensively about the manufacturer's range through interactive and experience-creating features such as the floor finder, the room studio or ever-new themed worlds. If a customer wants to buy a floor covering, however, they are directed to specialist dealers nearby.

One challenge in implementing the platform was the different variants and parameters of the individual floor coverings. With the design vinyl floors, for example, the same décor in some series varies not only in different lengths, widths and thicknesses, but also in a differently structured material build-up. Visualizing this clearly for the user was a challenge in UX design.

"With our internet platform, we create a central channel through which we offer new digital content and services," says ter Hürne Head of Marketing Kay Skowronnek, praising the outcome of the project. "The goal is to provide consumers with a seamless experience along the customer journey. The same applies to our sales partners."

During the current year, the B2B portal for trade partners will go into broad use. ter Hürne will then offer all dealer-relevant processes fully digitally. Partners of the company can, for example, place orders online or make use of the image service. Further functions and services, as well as expansion into export markets, are being planned.