Warwickshire-based Tow-Trust has a strong reputation for high quality commercial and non-commercial towbars, vehicle-specific electric kits and towing accessories. It’s the UK’s largest manufacturer of towbars, rear under-run protection devices and rear access steps. The company is well known for high quality materials and rigorous design, testing and manufacturing. Tow-Trust offers safety, reliability and value for money and works with trade partners across the UK.
With an expanding catalog of manufacturer-specific products and increasing competition, Tow-Trust decided to provide online self-service for its trade partners. The company chose Cloudfy to deliver an effective and scalable B2B ecommerce solution.
Products
Solution: B2B ecommerce portal
Integration: Warehouse Management System (WMS)
Features: Product catalog management
The Challenge
Tow-Trust already had an online catalog but wanted a business to business (B2B) ecommerce solution to improve customer service. They wanted to simplify and streamline ordering for trade partners and provide online product and dealer information for end users.
Cloudfy’s out of the box features meant they could launch their new website quickly to provide an online self-service portal. They could help end users find nearby dealers with a postcode look-up tool. They also wanted to provide a simple way to find the correct products for specific vehicle makes and models. Details can include body type, socket type and year of manufacture.
Moving forward they want to improve and simplify their ordering and fulfillment processes through further integration and automation.
Finally, they wanted to launch their new site in less than six months.
Our Approach
The first priority was to support the company’s business processes and integrate with their WMS and other bespoke business systems.
Their staff were taking hundreds of orders per day by phone. Online self-service simplifies administration, reduces manual data entry errors and speeds things up.
Cloudfy’s customizable templates simplified transferring product data and images from the old Tow-Trust website. Once categories and attributes were set up in Cloudfy the product details were imported from Excel spreadsheets. Having worked with Cloudfy to get everything ready Tow-Trust’s team members can now manage ongoing product updates themselves.
Thanks to integration with the company’s WMS, the website can pull in stock due dates to provide up to the minute information for Tow-Trust’s trade partners. New order information is pushed back to the WMS for processing and dispatch.
Every single Tow-Trust product has a unique internal stockkeeping unit (SKU) reference but these aren’t needed to place orders. An ‘alternative SKUs’ option was created for the back office while customers use simplified SKUs references online.
While end-users can’t view stock levels or prices on the new site they can find the products they need using easy drop down menus for each product category. On the home page there’s a simple ‘part finder’ tool. They can find all the relevant products for their vehicle’s make, model and year.
Once they have identified the correct products the national ‘dealer locator’ tool provides their local dealer’s contact information. They can then visit or place their order directly.
Product information management
Cloudfy’s robust and scalable product information management (PIM) functionality is easy to use via the administration dashboard. Alternatively, Cloudfy can integrate with third-party PIM solutions. You can easily manage product names, descriptions, images, tags, dimensions part numbers and data sheets.
WMS integration
A WMS optimizes and automates warehouse operations. It improves efficiency through inventory management and streamlined processes to create seamless customer experiences.
Integrating Cloudfy and a WMS allows order information synchronization to provide a complete view of the order lifecycle. Real-time inventory updates provide accurate stock levels to improve order processing, even across multiple warehouses. Improved visibility and product tracking also help improve decision making for the whole business.
Next steps
The new site has been live since April 2023, streamlining and simplifying Tow-Trusts trade order processing. End users have an easy online route to the right products and their nearest dealers.
We’re continuing to help Tow-Trust benefit from the flexibility and scalability of B2B ecommerce with ongoing business process improvements and automation.
