Customer Case Study

50,000 SKUs, Punching Above Its Weight

ARG Industrial, an Alaska-based industrial hose and rigging distributor, used Unilog's CX1 Platform to launch a content-rich B2B eCommerce site and compete with national players.

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Industry

Industrial and Hydraulic Hose & Fittings, Lifting & Rigging Supplies

Location

Anchorage, AK

Products used

CX1 Platform

Executive Summary

ARG Industrial (formerly Alaska Rubber Group), a distributor of industrial and hydraulic hose & fittings, lifting, and rigging supplies, partnered with Unilog to build a content-rich B2B eCommerce site on the CX1 Platform. With rich product content, deep connectivity, and 50,000 SKUs online, the distributor now competes with national integrated supply companies, ships nationwide, and ranks organically in search.

50,000SKUs available online

Buyers Going Digital, Faster Than the Catalog

ARG Industrial (formerly Alaska Rubber Group) has been a mainstay in the industrial and hydraulic hose & fittings, lifting, and rigging supplies industry since 1980. Several years ago, the distributor saw buyers shifting toward digital sourcing and more self-serve options — what President & CEO Mike Mortensen called the Amazon effect.

ARG lacked a platform to meet those digital needs, and Mortensen wasn’t sure how they would build detail pages for all their products. When the company reached out to manufacturing partners and other distributors for product content, they found it wasn’t available — until they were introduced to Unilog.

ARG Industrial — CX1 storefront on a laptop

Rich Content on a Connected Platform

Unilog’s connected product content and commerce solution, the CX1 Platform, gave ARG Industrial a flexible eCommerce platform, unmatched product content, dynamic product information management, and deep connectivity tools to integrate its online and in-store business.

With robust product information housed directly on the site, ARG’s eCommerce website became its source of truth for product knowledge. Sales reps now use the product detail pages and manufacturer marketing content instead of carrying catalogs or sending customers to disparate manufacturer sites, pointing buyers to local availability and negotiated pricing on ARG’s own site.

ARG Industrial — CX1 storefront on the web

From Calls to Carts

Site adoption has ramped up since implementation. Some customers initially accessed the 50,000-SKU online catalog but still called reps to order; ARG encouraged online use and offered a discount for ordering online, and shopping cart revenue has grown month after month as customer registrations increase.

Organic SEO

ARG’s products rank well in search with zero dollars spent on SEO, often appearing beneath the paid results and sometimes above the manufacturer’s own website.

Increased visibility

Based in Anchorage, Alaska, ARG now ships orders across the U.S. because buyers can find them online.

Power in the market

The B2B eCommerce platform lets a 13-location distributor compete with large national integrated supply companies.

Stronger manufacturer connections

The platform connects ARG with its manufacturing partners and lets it share end-market analytics and data.

A tech leader

The site helped ARG become a technology leader in its vertical, building employee pride and a shared vision.