Customer Case Study

110 Years In, A Modern Storefront

Hill & Markes replaced its legacy site with CX1 CIMM2 and Unilog content services, driving a 65% increase in online ordering and 11% more total revenue through the website.

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Industry

Foodservice, Janitorial and Office Supplies, Industrial Packaging

Location

Amsterdam, NY

Products used

CX1 CIMM2

Executive Summary

A 110-year-old New York distributor of foodservice, janitorial, office, and packaging supplies, Hill & Markes overhauled its eCommerce platform with CX1 CIMM2 and Unilog’s data enrichment. Custom features and enriched content turned the site into a highly successful sales tool, driving a 65% increase in online ordering and 11% more total revenue through the website.

65%increase in users ordering online

60%increase in online registered accounts

11%more total revenue through the website

A Legacy Site That Didn’t Measure Up

Hill & Markes, a distributor of foodservice disposables, janitorial supplies, office supplies, industrial packaging, and clean/natural foods, has served upstate New York for more than 110 years. In 2015 they realized their legacy website did not live up to their commitment to extraordinary customer service, and brought on eCommerce Manager Mike Powers to identify issues and decide whether to update or replace the platform.

Powers found glaring problems: the site lacked accurate product content and taxonomy, was missing product images and complete descriptions, and made it difficult for buyers to find products. It was not mobile-responsive, and it offered none of the punchout capabilities that customers like colleges and universities were beginning to require.

After deciding an update would not solve their needs, Powers looked for a comprehensive commerce solution with content enrichment services that could integrate with their existing ERP, Infor SX.e, and be run effectively by a very small team.

Enriched Content, Custom Features

After a conversation with Unilog about product data enrichment, Hill & Markes decided to replace their web platform with CX1 CIMM2, Unilog’s all-in-one eCommerce platform, which gives distributors:

A streamlined checkout

with different payment options, including punchout integration.

Powerful search and filtering

to help buyers find products easily.

A strong CMS

with personalization features like product recommendations.

A robust PIM

that allows customer-specific product catalogs and easy related-item mapping.

A responsive design and native mobile app

for a great shopping experience on any device.

Custom software to integrate with different ERPs

and other back-end systems.

Unilog’s content services team enriched Hill & Markes’ 15,000 stock items with robust descriptions, features, specifications, and supporting documents, and refined the product hierarchy and taxonomy. Unilog also built custom tools—My Items, Multi-Level Approver, and budgeting functionality—to differentiate the site.

65% More Customers Ordering Online

What started as a project to help customers shop online turned into a full eCommerce overhaul that transformed the site into a highly successful sales tool, run entirely by a small, dedicated eCommerce team on CX1 CIMM2.

Almost a year after going live, Hill & Markes saw a 65% increase in users ordering online and a 60% increase in online registered accounts. They gained 11% more total revenue through the website and estimated at least 25% of total revenue would come via the website by year’s end. Custom features like My Items, Multi-Level Approver, and budgeting functionality now differentiate Hill & Markes from competitors and deliver the Amazon-like experience B2B buyers expect.