Global Industrial Increases Customer Education With Bloomreach and Shift7

Story Behind the Brand

Global Industrial, a Systemax, Inc. company, is a leading national distributor of industrial products and MRO supplies. The company’s customer-centric focus means it provides industry-leading products, knowledge and expertise, and operational excellence all designed to bring customers a differentiated and delightful experience.

increase in content shared monthly

customer segments served AI-driven content

Challenge

Global Industrial started as a small material handling company when it was birthed in 1949 and has transformed into a B2B industry-leading distributor with over 1.7 million products in 21 industrial and commercial categories.

But just as Global Industrial differentiated itself in its first 70+ years of business, the company wanted to differentiate itself in the thought leadership realm as well. It wanted to create a platform to generate and distribute educational content to customers that could empower them with the resources they needed to be successful with Global Industrial products and to better understand the marketplace at large.

Global Industrial’s challenge? A product-focused and product-led website experience as well as a homegrown website platform that offered little flexibility for expanding content storytelling. Stack that on top of an increasingly competitive digital commerce marketplace and all of these factors left little room for differentiation in an already crowded space.

Solution

Thanks to Bloomreach and Shift7 Digital, Global Industrial was able to create a content-rich resource designed to empower customers with expert advice on topics they need to succeed and grow their businesses.

The Knowledge Center, powered by Bloomreach Discovery and Bloomreach Content, serves as the content hub that allows Global Industrial customers to master their respective trades. Content topics range all over the spectrum and The Knowledge Center even has a “recommended for you” section that recommends content — driven by Bloomreach’s AI — to customers that they are likely to engage with.

Global Industrial is also able to integrate The Knowledge Center with its home-built ecommerce site to stitch two user experiences on its website together. This connection of educational connect and related product categories optimizes the online customer experience even more.

We are delivering an exceptional end-to-end customer experience and providing rich and engaging content that elevates the value we provide and builds loyalty with our customers. The Knowledge Center is a go-to resource that goes beyond the sharing of knowledge and empowers customers to put the skills and the resources of Global Industrial to work for them.

Klaus Werner

SVP and CMO, Global Industrial

Results

The expert advice offered through The Knowledge Center has positioned Global Industrial as a partner in helping customers grow to their full potential.

In total, Global Industrial serves over 25 different customer segments with AI-driven content recommendations and the organization now shares 12 times more content per month than previously.