Optimized customer service thanks to an e-commerce solution using Magento 2

Liebherr: Focus on the customer

Liebherr chose Magento 2 to significantly improve its customer service. Together with valantic, the company developed an e-commerce platform tailored to B2B requirements. Customers and service partners now have access to a range of over 3.4 million spare parts. In 2017, the project even won the Magento Imagine Excellence Award for best B2B innovation.

The company: Liebherr

The family-owned Liebherr Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of construction machinery but is also active in many other industries. More than 41,500 employees drive technological progress. The decentralized group is divided into eleven business segments: Building Technology, Aerospace, Transportation Technology, Machine Tools, Hotels, Earthmoving, Concrete Technology, Components, Tower Cranes, Maritime Cranes and Mining.

The challenge

The Liebherr Group is constantly working to improve its customer service and has developed a cross-divisional portal for B2B customers. Liebherr’s goal: integrate an e-commerce solution for original spare parts to better meet the needs of the target group and replace the existing online service portal Liebherr P@rts24.

Liebherr’s most important requirements for the e-commerce solution:

Transparent and continuous order tracking
Up-to-date information on availability and pricing
Complete order processing through a centralized system
Easy scalability at any given time
Seamless integration with Liebherr's ERP system
Dealer accounts can be created in the backend with different user roles and maintained as Liebherr service partners.
Extended editing rights available for the service partner role
Access via the Liebherr spare parts catalog as well as via a protected login

Solutions and results

In cooperation with Liebherr, our colleagues at valantic have developed a new B2B e-commerce platform to meet Liebherr’s requirements. The result is a new B2B e-commerce platform. This platform provides easy and fast access to more than 3.4 million Liebherr products worldwide. The Magento B2B Edition provided a solid foundation for the implementation, including features such as NegotiableQuotes.

The following technical solutions were implemented:

Structuring of offerings by industry and customer-specific assets
Asset management: precise and efficient allocation of spare parts to vehicles and machines
Unique modularization allows for future-proofing and high flexibility.
Multi-level rights and role concept for service partners and customers (customer account with sub-accounts): Different roles can be assigned – even simultaneously.
Customized category structure and navigation after login
Excellent platform stability and high test coverage for all business-critical modules
Dynamic quotation workflow via the optimized “NegotiableQuotes” Magento B2B module
Guaranteed deep integration into Liebherr’s IT landscape through a variety of high-performance interfaces: web service interfaces to Liebherr ERP (order management and service partner connection), to customer data in Liebherr CRM, and to Liebherr’s product management tool

Updates during the course of the project

Even after the implementation of the e-commerce platform for B2B customers, our collaboration with Liebherr has continued. The experts at valantic have further developed and refined the web shop, including the following updates:

Forwarding of shopping carts to other users
Addition of external product information: External product information can now be added directly from external sources and integrated via new tabs on the product detail page. For instance, PDFs for user manuals or extended product details.
Punch-out: Customers can access Liebherr’s web store or externally linked catalog via the ERP system.
Request for product overhaul: Customers can now send a request for the overhaul of a product directly to the service partner.
Easy switching to alternative items: If an alternative product is suggested to customers (e.g., a new, identical item), they can easily replace the product in their shopping cart with the new suggestion.

Special user benefits of the Liebherr platform

A unique user benefit of the Liebherr e-commerce platform is the ability to have multiple shopping carts, which also allow for asset management. B2B customers can use several active shopping carts simultaneously and assign them to individual assets. This clear allocation system helps to reduce the risk of incorrect orders and improves customer retention.