Watsco
Conditioning for Success
What If we could help the largest HVAC/R distribution network in the United States transform through ecommerce?
Strategic Insight
Watsco is the largest distributor of heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC/R) equipment and supplies in the United States and includes industry-leading experts like Carrier Enterprise, Gemaire Distributors, Baker Distributing, and East Coast Metal Distributors.
Each member of the Watsco family of distributors has worked with Perficient and another partner to help drive its digital transformation efforts, including designing and building robust new commerce sites, implementing powerful back-end technology, and tailoring the web experience for visitors around the globe.
Heating Things Up for B2B Customers
Carrier Enterprise (CE), which provides one-stop shopping and expertise for commercial and residential equipment and aftermarket parts and supplies, was looking for a way to refresh its B2B online presence and create multiple sites with one seamless experience. The new commerce websites would also need to integrate with the company’s complex PIM and ERP systems and scale across multiple regional sites.
We worked with CE to implement Adobe Commerce as the platform and designed and built the new sites to provide an efficient and flexible commerce experience. The new platform is fully integrated with CE’s back-end systems and has the strength to support the massive repository of digitized HVAC product information.
The launch of the new sites has expedited CE’s order fulfillment process and the mobile-responsive platform allows customers to engage with CE, receive technical assistance, and complete orders using their mobile devices. All of these features combine to provide a smooth customer experience, ensure the timely delivery of parts, and help HVAC contractors complete more jobs each week.
Hitting Record Highs With a New Commerce Experience
Gemaire, another Watsco brand and HVAC powerhouse, wanted to provide customers with a better online experience through a new commerce site and increase the number of orders processed online.
We helped make these goals a reality by working with Gemaire to create a new site that provides easy-to-use B2B functionality, specialty B2B features for logged-in customers, and intuitive navigation and search capabilities. Built on the Adobe Commerce platform, the responsive site gives customers all the tools needed to quickly make a purchase using any device, such as a Quick Order Pad, robust site search, and rapid ordering via order templates.
The site also provides customers with a self-service My Account dashboard, which provides the ability to view past orders, track shipments, manage multiple buyers within an account, and manage order approvals for sub-buyers. With IP-recognition built in, the new platform automatically connects customers with their nearest Gemaire branch and allows them to view product availability customized to their location.
After the successful launch of the new Gemaire website, we were engaged to build similar sites for East Coast Metal Distributors and Baker Distributing.
Delivering Personalized Information Across the Continent
Each of the Watsco brands we’ve worked with provides HVAC/R equipment and supplies across a variety of geographic regions, so its websites needed to be equipped to provide customers with accurate information based on their location.
In addition to the Gemaire website, we worked with Watsco to build commerce sites for East Coast Metal Distributors and Baker Distributing that also include product catalogs personalized by location. A customer simply uses the built-in Branch Finder to select the brick-and-mortar location that’s closest to them, and the site displays information on the products available through that location.
Results
Key Benefits
The new Watsco commerce sites provide the companies’ B2B customers with the tools and flexibility they need to quickly and easily complete orders and get the HVAC equipment and supplies they need.
After launching the new Carrier Enterprise site, the company’s online transactions grew dramatically.
The Gemaire commerce platform was also quickly adopted by customers and helped to grow the company’s online business.
Baker Distributing was awarded the 2019 Magento Imagine Excellence Award for the Best B2B Buyer Experience. The year before, Watsco was recognized during the 2018 Magento Imagine Excellence Awards, earning the award for B2B Growth. The Gemaire website had previously earned the title of Best B2B User Experience at the 2015 Magento Imagine Excellence Awards.
Nearly half of Watsco's combined $4.7+ billion in revenue is realized online through Adobe Commerce. This is a result of improving experiences to meet customer expectations. A recent addition is dock-side pick up, which is done with a mobile application that is authenticated to Adobe Commerce.
