Smitma is one of the largest players worldwide in the purchase and sale of used excavators. But Smitma is also the right place for rollers, bulldozers and other heavy rolling stock. From the head office in Venlo, all vehicles are extensively checked so that they start a new life with a new owner in the best condition and with guaranteed quality.
A ERP driven website
The proprietary ERP system used at Smitma is the beating heart of the company's daily operations. Smitma had a great desire to fully integrate the website with the ERP. This allowed customers to be served better and faster and saved time for employees in the commercial department.
To connect the ERP, an API had to be available. It wasn't there yet. Together with the developers of the ERP system, Van Ons contributed to the design of a custom API. After delivery of the API, the website could be perfectly integrated with the ERP system.
Products from the ERP visible on the website
The ERP system contains all machines and parts that are for sale at Smitma. With a single click, administrators can also display a product in the ERP on the website. With a 'close-to-real-time' connection, all available machines appear on the site from the ERP. This way, the customer always has access to a current offer and the administrators only have to add a product at one place in the digital chain.
Sales requests directly to the right person
On the website it is possible to request inspection reports or quotes for the available machines. These requests are also immediately entered into the ERP system. No more hassle with emails and leads that have to be transferred into an administration. The quote request is sent on the site, entered directly into the ERP and therefore ends up in the right place and to the right person who can follow up on the request.
A customer portal for an optimal customer experience
In a modern digital strategy, a customer portal or my environment can no longer be missing. For example, we have developed a customer portal for Smitma that ensures an even better customer experience. Customers can create an account for the customer portal on the website. In that portal they can see their open and requested quotes, but also recent searches, for example. They can also save those searches and via a notification service, customers will automatically be notified when new products are available within the chosen search query.
Quickly navigate through the website with optimal SEO value – The website makes extensive use of AJAX. A predictive search has been integrated into searches, which provides suggestions for results based on the first letters of a search query. In addition, the user can also quickly navigate through the range of products by using the built-in filters. All pages such as category pages or product pages all have extra text fields and can be accessed directly from Google. This way we maximize the indexability of the website, while the user can quickly browse the site with AJAX.