Au Forum du Bâtiment
With DQE, Au Forum du Bâtiment puts data quality to work supporting the customer experience at its tooling B2B and B2C points of sale.
The Au Forum du Bâtiment (AFDB) network was created in 1991, and offers building professionals a complete suite of products and services in the building hardware, locking systems, industrial supplies and tooling domains. It is the market leader in tooling, and retail customers can access its offer via its Sobrico.com website, specializing in home improvement and gardening.
By using DQE to qualify postal addresses as soon as they are entered, we have seen a marked improvement in deliveries and a decrease in complaints passed on to our customer service department. This naturally enhances the customer experience, as they receive their orders promptly and at the correct address.
Philippe Tonnellier
DSI - Au Forum du Bâtiment
Use case
Issues
With about one hundred outlets across France, Au Forum du Bâtiment (AFDB) offers a catalog of 40,000 items to building professionals, providing them with access to the leading professional brands at the best prices. The hardware leader also has a logistics platform for delivering a daily volume of several thousand items all over France. Via its Sobrico.com website, AFDB also provides retail customers with the supplies they need, and offers them local expertise, while ensuring timely deliveries from its warehouses.
When it comes to online sales, the brand must more specifically meet two key challenges:
- deliver and invoice orders quickly and to the correct address, without returned package problems;
- register in AFDB’s B2B activity only those customers whose professional status are proven and verified.
The identification, contact, and postal address data entered by customers when they order online on the Sobrico or AFDB websites is critical in this area.
However, AFDB encountered delivery issues: “Input of postal addresses created errors that had an impact on our internal logistics. Undeliverable orders were coming back to us. Both the customer experience and our brand image suffered because of it,” explained Philippe Tonnellier, Director, Information Systems, Au Forum du Bâtiment. The implementation of a new Microsoft 365 ERP system is going to give the company the chance to handle this customer data quality issue by integrating a data quality solution at input.
Solutions
Following the advice of its integrator, AFDB gave DQE the mission of integrating input help and real-time input qualification on the forms used on its AFDB and Sobrico e-commerce websites. “Since DQE was recommended by our supplier, it ensured us that integration would be fast and efficiently handled,” highlighted Philippe Tonnellier.
Currently, the Sobrico website uses DQE solutions for real-time qualification of email and postal addresses, which are key elements for contacting, invoicing, and delivering orders to retail customers. In particular, the user can autocomplete postal address fields by simply choosing from the addresses proposed as soon as they input the first few characters.
On the AFDB professional website, in addition to autocomplete on postal addresses, the fields for all of the business identification information are automatically filled in by simply providing the legal business name. The business identification is then complete, after an initial verification of the company’s existence.
Results
Delivery that meets customer expectations
Qualifying postal addresses at input guarantees that the address is actually registered in postal repositories. It quickly reduced the rate of undelivered packages. This means that AFDB can avoid all the logistical costs related to processing returns and resending orders. For both B2B and B2C online orders placed by customers, input help also saves time and improves data precision, and customers appreciate this in their online journey.
“By using DQE for qualifying postal addresses as soon as they are input, we see a marked improvement in deliveries and a decrease in complaints transmitted to our customer service department. This of course improves the customer experience, since they receive their orders quickly, and at the correct address,” added Philippe Tonnellier.
Reliable B2B identification from the moment an order is placed
On AFDB’s B2B website, using autocomplete with business data largely simplifies the customer form-filling step, improving their buying experience. For company teams, this real-time qualification guarantees that B2B data collected is correct and up to date, and channels data into the ERP from official business information repositories, particularly in terms of VAT and company registration numbers.
“With B2B data that is automatically enriched using DQE, we are sure that the B2B customer accounts are indeed opened by building professionals. This makes invoicing addresses more reliable,” noted Philippe Tonnellier. He added: “Having integrated B2B data that is standardized and complete into our ERP also prepares us for the upcoming electronic invoicing requirements.”
Data quality prepared for the future
DQE’s solutions help AFDB to project the development of their data quality initiatives within the company. Input help for data within the ERP environment and the CRM system will be explored for internal users.
Autocomplete of B2B data in particular can make input more reliable for customers at a point of sale that have not opened an account. This will facilitate B2B identification for one-off purchases.
Another use case under consideration is fighting fraud, in the scenario where a customer account is pirated via their email address. To ensure that the account is actually reset by the customer, data quality can provide additional identification and verification data, including mobile telephone subscriber data. This could be a strategic solution, as AFDB is continuing to develop its business in the e-commerce sector.
Qualifying postal addresses at input guarantees that the address is actually registered in postal repositories. It quickly reduced the rate of undelivered packages. This means that AFDB can avoid all the logistical costs related to processing returns and resending orders. For both B2B and B2C online orders placed by customers, input help also saves time and improves data precision, and customers appreciate this in their online journey.
“By using DQE for qualifying postal addresses as soon as they are input, we see a marked improvement in deliveries and a decrease in complaints transmitted to our customer service department. This of course improves the customer experience, since they receive their orders quickly, and at the correct address,” added Philippe Tonnellier.
Reliable B2B identification from the moment an order is placed
On AFDB’s B2B website, using autocomplete with business data largely simplifies the customer form-filling step, improving their buying experience. For company teams, this real-time qualification guarantees that B2B data collected is correct and up to date, and channels data into the ERP from official business information repositories, particularly in terms of VAT and company registration numbers.
“With B2B data that is automatically enriched using DQE, we are sure that the B2B customer accounts are indeed opened by building professionals. This makes invoicing addresses more reliable,” noted Philippe Tonnellier. He added: “Having integrated B2B data that is standardized and complete into our ERP also prepares us for the upcoming electronic invoicing requirements.”
Data quality prepared for the future
DQE’s solutions help AFDB to project the development of their data quality initiatives within the company. Input help for data within the ERP environment and the CRM system will be explored for internal users.
Autocomplete of B2B data in particular can make input more reliable for customers at a point of sale that have not opened an account. This will facilitate B2B identification for one-off purchases.
Another use case under consideration is fighting fraud, in the scenario where a customer account is pirated via their email address. To ensure that the account is actually reset by the customer, data quality can provide additional identification and verification data, including mobile telephone subscriber data. This could be a strategic solution, as AFDB is continuing to develop its business in the e-commerce sector.
SECTOR
Retail
CHALLENGES
- Reducing the amount of undelivered packages
- Simplifying reliable B2B data collection
- Offering a high-quality customer journey
BENEFITS
Delivery that meets customer expectations
Reliable B2B identification from the moment an order is placed
Data quality prepared for the future
