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The Client
Roofmart France is a leading distributor of waterproofing products for flat roofs, thanks to its technical expertise and close connections to professional clients. The company is a subsidiary of the Canadian group IKO (formerly MEPLE in France.)
Since opening its first store in Lyon in 2002, Roofmart has established 20 branches throughout France, serving almost 80% of the French market and confirming its position as a number one roofing specialist in France.
Roofmart is headquartered in Tourville-la-Rivière, Normandy, and has a central purchasing office in Strasbourg. Today, the Roofmart network boasts more than 22 years of experience, more than 15,000 referenced items, and approximately 100 employees.
To find out more, visit roofmart.co.uk.
The Challenge
Prior to its collaboration with Persistent, Roofmart France managed its orders and quotations mainly by telephone, e-mail, or over the counter. All these interactions required the direct involvement of staff in each branch.
While these processes were functional, they were time-consuming. They also limited customer autonomy as customers could not consult their negotiated prices, check product availability, or browse the online catalog without going through an intermediary.
Roofmart had been planning to enter ecommerce since 2019. The goals were to:
- Interact more efficiently with existing customers and extend Roofmart’s market reach
- Enable agents to focus on more complex, high-value-adding activities, such as personalized support for large-scale construction projects
After consulting Gartner case studies and evaluating several options, Roofmart chose Salesforce’s B2B Commerce solution based on its sustainability. In addition to optimizing operational efficiency, setting up an ecommerce site enabled Roofmart to target white zones, where access to branches is limited.
Why did Roofmart choose Persistent Systems?
Roofmart chose its integration partner as meticulously as it chose its solution. Persistent stood out among five integrators thanks to its consultative approach and refusal to make unrealistic promises. During the tender process, Persistent’s multidisciplinary team of technicians, architects, analysts, and consultants’ efficiency and responsiveness established a decisive level of trust. Their thorough and rigorous approach confirmed Persistent as this customer’s natural choice.
The Solution
Implementing B2B Commerce gave Roofmart an additional sales channel. This enabled customers to consult negotiated rates and product availability independently.
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics Navision 2015 ERP, which is not cloud-based, required Persistent to create a secure gateway to avoid direct access to data. By establishing a compatible data model, Persistent met the requisite level of security.
Our teams also configured the online payment service provider (PSP) Monetico Split (formerly Paysurf) to fit Roofmart’s requirements. Roofmart wanted to allocate online orders to each branch instead of centralizing them at head office. To preserve the human relationship, Roofmart asked Persistent to personalize the B2B Commerce interface so that the sales representative’s contact details would always be clearly visible. Roofmart’s people remain the cornerstone of the sales relationship.
The Result
- A significant increase in orders during evenings and weekends when branches are closed. In fact, 30% of customers now use the platform outside branch opening hours. This is an unexpected but very welcome benefit.
- Salespeople do fewer simple order entries, freeing them to refocus on valuable consulting tasks such as studying and advising on a customer’s project for a complete building.
- Ecommerce-generated sales are allocated to the agency concerned thanks to the Monetico Split configuration, ensuring fair distribution of credit to respective sales teams and enabling tracking of customer locations.
- Implementing Salesforce has transformed internal management, bringing greater rigor and organization, which has led to better control of item and customer databases and secure global information.
- Salesforce B2B Commerce has made collating and analyzing customer data such as purchasing habits and seasonality easier, enriching Roofmart’s sales strategy.
- The platform has also attracted new customers, expanding the company’s portfolio and increasing its growth potential.
The Next Steps
Inspired by the success of the B2B site in France, Roofmart Canada, which has also set up its own B2B platform with Salesforce, is considering integrating a payment service provider (PSP).
The next steps for Roofmart France and Persistent include ongoing maintenance and refinement of the system. This includes developing a roadmap for the next three years to continue expanding the site’s functionality to meet the evolving needs of the company and its customers.
For us, it was crucial to choose our solution and service provider meticulously. At our first meeting, Persistent’s ecommerce team was complete, including technicians and consultants, all of whom were experienced and had worked together before. Their approach was less commercial and more consultative, seeking to understand our specific needs. Their complementarity and cohesion immediately reassured us and saved us precious time.
Key figures
15,000
Items Referenced
20
Branches in France
From the outset, we had expressed our need to work with a service provider able to advise us, while demonstrating a high level of responsiveness. These expectations were fully met by Persistent, who demonstrated these qualities throughout our collaboration.
Products: B2B Commerce
Project duration: 1 year
Number of customer accounts: 6,000
Integrations: ERP Navision, Monetico Split (ex-Paysurf)
