Suzana Bulearca | PBSL Group | Unlocking Insights and Business Rich Data through Adobe Commerce

Summary

Susanna Bela, Managing Director at PBSL Group, discusses the company's tech and data-driven approach to achieve personalization and business growth. She highlights challenges in the construction industry, the importance of understanding diverse customer needs, and the role of data in improving customer engagement, product recommendations, and overall business strategy. The presentation also emphasizes the significance of people in interpreting and applying data creatively for sustainable growth.

Takeaways

• 🏗️ Susanna Bela, Managing Director at PBSL Group, is an experienced digital industry professional with over 15 years of experience in both agency and client-side roles.
• 🏢 PBSL Group is a leading independent supplier of construction and building supplies in the UK, operating five branches and nine websites, aiming to provide top-quality products at competitive prices with high customer service standards.
• 🛠️ The construction industry, though not typically seen as high-tech, faces significant challenges in embracing new trends and technology, which PBSL Group is addressing through a tech and data-centric approach.
• 📈 Susanna emphasizes the importance of understanding the diverse customer base, which ranges from DIY enthusiasts to large developers, each with different needs and expectations.
• 📊 Data is central to PBSL Group's strategy, helping them understand their customer base better and serve them more effectively, profitably, and in a way that is relevant to them.
• 💻 The company's technology stack is built around three key systems: Magento (an open-source platform), their ERP system, and MAP Digital (a CDP and email marketing platform), all designed to collect and utilize customer data.
• 🔍 PBSL Group uses data to optimize email marketing campaigns, answer questions about creative messaging, campaign timing, and audience segmentation, and to automate email and SMS journeys for personalized communication.
• 🛍️ Product recommendations, both online and at the trade counter, are driven by data analysis, aiming to upsell and cross-sell by ensuring customers have all the necessary components for their projects.
• 🔍 The company also uses data to improve the online search experience, ensuring that customer queries are directed to the most relevant products and categories.
• 📊 Beyond marketing, data is used to inform business decisions across various areas, including sales, account management, pricing strategies, procurement, and branch expansion strategies.
• 👥 Finally, Susanna highlights the importance of people in the digital transformation journey, emphasizing that while technology and data are crucial, it is the people who interpret and apply this data creatively that ultimately drive sustainable business growth.

Q & A

Who is Susanna Bela and what is her role at PBSL Group?

Susanna Bela is the Managing Director at PBSL Group, the UK's leading independent specialist supplier of construction and building supplies. She has over 15 years of experience in the digital industry, working both agency and client-side, and is responsible for setting up and leading the marketing proposition at PBSL Group.

What is the mission of PBSL Group?

The mission of PBSL Group is to source top-quality products at competitive prices, offering high customer service standards, expert advice at all stages of a project, and to continuously add to their product portfolio to fulfill the niche requirements of their audience.

What challenges does the construction industry face according to the transcript?

The construction industry faces challenges such as being traditionally slow to pick up on new trends and embrace technology, dealing with a large and complex audience with diverse needs, and the pressure from large developers on pricing and logistics.

How has COVID-19 impacted the construction industry as mentioned in the script?

COVID-19 has brought a massive change to the industry, forcing it to quickly adopt technology as physical stores were closed and transactions had to move online. This sudden shift has also seen big players with large budgets enter the market, increasing competition and pressure on profitability.

What is the key strategy PBSL Group has adopted to compete in the market?

PBSL Group's key strategy is to leverage data and be smart about it. They have built a business architecture centered around data to understand their customer base better, serve them more profitably, and in a way that is relevant to them.

Can you describe the technology stack PBSL Group uses?

PBSL Group's technology stack is built around three key pillar systems: Magento as the open-source center, their ERP system, and MAP Digital which is their CDP and email marketing platform. They have selected technologies that work in a headless, composable structure, and have built their own solutions where necessary.

How does PBSL Group utilize data for email marketing?

PBSL Group uses data for email marketing to answer optimization questions, such as which creative message works better for different audiences, the best timing for campaigns, and to create automated email and SMS journeys for personalized messaging at scale and at the right time.

What is the purpose of the loyalty programs that PBSL Group is developing?

The loyalty programs are in development to keep customers engaged with PBSL Group's brands, maintain their loyalty, prevent churn, and identify potential churn before it happens to intervene effectively.

How does PBSL Group use data for product recommendations both online and at the trade counter?

PBSL Group uses data for product recommendations to upsell and cross-sell, ensuring customers have what they need for their project. They conduct A/B testing and incorporate product knowledge from sales teams to improve recommendations and overall basket value.

What role does data play in improving the search experience on PBSL Group's websites?

Data helps improve the search experience by understanding customer queries and ensuring they are directed to the right product categories or articles. This helps customers find what they need, even if they are unsure of the specifics, thus reducing friction points in the online journey.

How does PBSL Group apply data to understand the role of various communication channels?

PBSL Group uses data to understand which channels are better for acquisitions and retention, how to reward them appropriately to drive business growth without cannibalization, and to identify the profitability per channel and customer segment affiliations with particular channels.

What is the significance of investing in a headless Magento system for PBSL Group?

Investing in a headless Magento system allows PBSL Group to deliver a fast and modern user experience. It is part of their strategy to create a seamless experience between online and in-store interactions, enhancing the overall customer journey.

How does the transcript emphasize the importance of people in the context of data and technology?

The transcript emphasizes that while data and technology are crucial, it is the people who interpret and apply the data creatively to the wider business context that truly matter. Getting the team invested in the journey and loving the data and tech is key to achieving sustainable business growth.

Outlines

00:00

🏗️ Introduction to Susanna and PBSL Group

Susanna Bela, the managing director at PBSL Group, a leading UK supplier of construction and building materials, presents in the ninth session of a 10-session event. With over 15 years of experience in the digital industry, Susanna discusses the company's journey toward personalization and relevancy through technology and data. She highlights PBSL's mission to source high-quality products at competitive prices and provide expert advice throughout projects. The company faces challenges due to the construction industry's slow adoption of technology and a diverse customer base with varying needs.

05:00

📈 Data-Centric Business Growth at PBSL

The second paragraph delves into how PBSL Group leverages data to understand its customer base and serve them more effectively. Susanna explains the company's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated the need for online transactions and increased competition from tech-savvy, well-funded competitors. PBSL's strategy involves building a business architecture centered around data, which helps in personalizing the entire marketing mix to ensure relevance to the customer. The technology stack, though not perfect, is continuously evolving and is built around three key systems: an open-source platform, an ERP system, and a CDP for email marketing, all aimed at collecting and activating customer data.

10:00

🛠️ Utilizing Data for Marketing and Customer Engagement

In the third paragraph, Susanna outlines how PBSL uses data to enhance email marketing and create automated email and SMS journeys for personalized communication at scale. The company analyzes customer behavior and types to optimize campaigns and timing, aiming to maintain customer engagement and loyalty. The data also informs sales and account management teams, ensuring alignment between online and offline messaging. Additionally, PBSL employs AI to predict customer behavior, such as potential churn, and intervene proactively to drive business growth profitably.

15:03

🔍 Data Insights for Product Recommendations and Search Optimization

The fourth paragraph focuses on the application of data for product recommendations and improving the online search experience. PBSL analyzes customer interactions with multiple brands and product categories to understand correlations and user behavior. This insight informs product page recommendations, which are tested and refined to improve customer satisfaction and basket value. The company also works to optimize its search functionality, ensuring that customer queries are directed to the most relevant products or categories, thus reducing friction points in the online customer journey.

20:05

📊 Data Analysis for Channel Strategy and Business Decisions

Susanna discusses in the fifth paragraph how PBSL uses data to understand the role of various communication channels in customer acquisition and retention. The company analyzes which channels are most effective for different customer segments and adjusts its communication strategy accordingly. Data is also used to identify friction points in the user experience, leading to decisions about payment platforms, security options, and credit opportunities. Furthermore, data informs broader business decisions, such as branch expansion strategies, pricing structures, and procurement strategies, enhancing the overall efficiency and profitability of the company.

25:06

👥 The Importance of People in Data-Driven Transformation

In the final paragraph, Susanna emphasizes the importance of people in the process of digital and cultural transformation. She stresses that while data and technology are crucial, it is the people who interpret and apply the data that truly drive sustainable business growth. Susanna shares her experience in implementing change within the company and encourages getting the team invested in the journey, highlighting the need for a love for data and technology to ensure the success of such initiatives.

Keywords

💡Personalization

Personalization refers to the process of tailoring products, services, or marketing messages to meet the specific preferences or needs of individual customers. In the context of the video, Susanna discusses how PBSL Group uses data to achieve personalization in their marketing efforts, aiming to make their offerings relevant to their diverse customer base. An example from the script is the use of customer data to create automated email and SMS journeys that provide personalized messages at scale and at the right time.

💡Data-Centric

A data-centric approach emphasizes the collection, analysis, and application of data to drive decision-making and business strategy. Susanna explains that PBSL Group has built its business architecture around data to understand their customer base better, which helps in serving them more effectively and profitably. The script mentions the creation of a data warehouse and the use of AI to predict customer behavior, illustrating the data-centric strategy in action.

💡Construction Industry

The construction industry encompasses the businesses involved in the building and maintenance of infrastructure. The video script notes that while the industry may seem high-tech, it traditionally has been slow to adopt new trends and technology. Susanna discusses the challenges faced by the industry, such as the need for top-quality products at competitive prices and the diverse audience it caters to, from DIY enthusiasts to large developers.

💡Technology Stack

A technology stack refers to the combination of software products and tools used to develop, design, and run a business's digital infrastructure. In the video, Susanna describes PBSL Group's technology stack, which includes an open-source platform, an ERP system, and a CDP for email marketing, as a way to centralize and utilize customer data effectively. The stack is built to be flexible and adaptable to the company's needs.

💡Omni-Channel

Omni-channel refers to the integration of multiple customer touchpoints, such as online and offline stores, to provide a seamless and unified customer experience. Susanna mentions creating a unified omni-channel view of the customer base, which allows PBSL Group to understand and serve their customers across all interactions, whether in a physical branch or online.

💡Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is a set of tactical elements that a company uses to pursue its marketing objectives, typically including product, price, place, promotion, and people. Susanna discusses how PBSL Group uses data to affect the entire marketing mix, ensuring that they provide the right products at the right price, in the preferred location, and with a message that resonates with the customer.

💡Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In the script, Susanna talks about using AI to analyze customer data, make predictions, and send signals to understand what might happen in the future, such as preventing churn or encouraging loyalty and repeat purchases.

💡Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation is the process of dividing a consumer group into several groups based on similar needs, interests, or behavior. Susanna explains that PBSL Group uses customer segmentation to tailor their marketing and sales strategies, informing their pricing structure, procurement strategies, and understanding which customer segments are more likely to engage with certain channels or campaigns.

💡Friction Points

Friction points are elements in the customer journey that cause difficulty or dissatisfaction, potentially leading to a loss of customers. The video script discusses how PBSL Group uses data to identify and reduce friction points in the user experience, such as improving the search functionality on their website to ensure customers can easily find the products they need.

💡Headless Commerce

Headless commerce refers to a decoupled architecture where the front-end interface (the 'head') is separated from the back-end systems (the 'body'). Susanna mentions that PBSL Group is investing in a headless Magento system to deliver a fast and modern user experience, which allows for greater flexibility and a better customer experience across all digital touchpoints.

💡Cultural Transformation

Cultural transformation involves changing the underlying beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes within an organization to better align with new business objectives. In the script, Susanna emphasizes the importance of people and getting the team invested in the company's journey towards digital and cultural transformation, as this is crucial for achieving sustainable business growth and effectively utilizing technology and data.

Highlights

Susanna Bela, Managing Director at PBSL Group, discusses the company's tech and data-centric journey towards personalization and business growth.

PBSL Group is a leading independent specialist supplier of construction and building supplies in the UK, with a mission to source top-quality products at competitive prices.

The construction industry faces challenges such as slow adoption of new trends and technology, as well as a complex and diverse audience.

COVID-19 has accelerated the need for technology adoption in the industry, with physical stores closed and an increase in online transactions.

Data and smart utilization are key to competing in the market, especially for independent businesses like PBSL Group.

The company has built a business architecture centered around data to understand and serve their customer base better.

Personalization at PBSL Group extends beyond marketing to affect the entire marketing mix, ensuring relevancy for customers.

The technology stack at PBSL Group is built around three key pillar systems: Magento, ERP system, and MAP Digital for CDP and email marketing.

Data is collected from all customer interactions and housed in a platform to create a unified, omnichannel view of the customer base.

Email marketing and SMS journeys are automated to deliver personalized messages at scale and the right time.

Artificial intelligence is used to predict customer behavior and intervene to prevent churn or encourage loyalty.

Data is utilized for product recommendations, both online and at the trade counter, to ensure customers have all they need for their projects.

Search experience online is improved using product data to ensure customers find relevant products based on their queries.

Data is used to understand the role of communication channels and plan strategies for acquisition and retention.

Friction points in the user journey are identified and addressed using data to improve the overall customer experience.

Data-driven decisions have influenced the company's approach to payment platforms, security options, and credit opportunities.

The redesign of the Magento system in a headless structure aims to deliver a fast and modern user experience.

Data has implications beyond marketing, influencing sales, account management, pricing strategies, and branch expansion.

The importance of people in interpreting and applying data creatively to the wider business context is emphasized.

Sustainable business growth requires the right technology and a team that is invested in and loves the data and tech they work with.

Transcripts

so session nine of 10 getting close to

the end now and for that we have Susanna

Bela managing director at pbsl group the

UK's leading independent specialist

supplier of Construction and building

supplies um again somebody else that we

had here last year on the panel who's

come back um this year to give us a a

talk and let us go a little bit deep on

what they're achieving suzanna's been

working in digital industry for over 15

years both agency and client side

setting up in leading down out teens

struggled the entire marketing

proposition you know she's somebody who

can talk about product Price Place

promotion data and technology and I

think you're going to get a talk today

that touches on quite a bit of that with

a session on insights and

personalization please put your hands

together for

Susanna hello um thank you for sticking

with the last few presentations of the

day I know it's it's been quite a long

day for you guys um so hopefully I'm

going to make it brief and dynamic and

also it's about data so some people

might be very engaged like me and some

people might be like what um but anyway

so yeah um pbsl group

um today I'll be talking to you about

our Tech and data Centric uh journey to

achieve personalization and relevancy as

it says on the tin but basically

business

growth so first of all just a quick

thing on who is pbsl group so um yeah

we're the independent um group supplying

specialist building materials uh to both

Trade N diyers across the UK so we have

five branches um branded as professional

building supplies and then we have nine

websites um and um basic basically our

mission is to Source top quality

products at competitive

prices um offering High customer service

standards expert advice at all stages of

a project um and once we constantly keep

adding to our product portfolio um and

therefore this is why we have all the

brands that we have here and more to

come um the idea is to hold deep stock

of specialist products that can fulfill

the niche requirements of our AUD

so um basically in the construction

industry not the sexiest of Industries

um and I know various bodies that we

that govern us are trying to make it a

bit more enticing um but we do face our

challenges so I think everyone um you

know kind of thinks the construction

industry is kind of high tech with

planning and all sorts of Technology

going on um for um you know design and

um and building but unfortunately it

sometimes feels a bit like this um so

there's there's a few challenges that we

have faced and we still are so the

industry has traditionally been very

slow to pick up on new trends and

embrace technology both from a merchant

and a customer

side um there are there is a large and

complex audience that we are talking to

so we're going from the DIY U sorry from

the bi wire which is you know build um

buy based on what the the the Builder is

telling you to buy you're kind of don't

really know what you're doing you're

just buying off a list then there's the

DIY who kind of knows a few bit and

pieces but not really um all the all the

specifics of the industry then there's

small trade who you know your general

Builder building jobs um nan no with the

latest construction Trends and

regulations and really they're too time

poor to care then you've got the

specialist trades who will challenge you

on the technicalities and the quality of

the product and always require more and

more Niche products and and interesting

things to to deliver for their customers

then you have the large developers who

will challenge you or price and will put

incredible amount of pressure on your

operations and Logistics um so basically

a wide variety all with different needs

and I know all the talks today have been

about customer insights and how to

better understand your customers and

it's difficult when you have loads of

them and when they're so varied and also

because they're so varied they all have

their inter various interactions with us

right so they don't really care if our

internally we're up to scratch to serve

them they just want to um to fulfill

their projects um and they don't really

care because ultimately there's always

someone else prepared to do things

cheaper faster and maybe even better and

for us particularly in the industry

covid has brought a massive change in

that um uninterested that industry that

as I've said traditionally slow to pick

up Suddenly technology has been the

answer where everything was closed um so

the physical stores were closed people

had to transact online big boys started

entering our Market with with big

budgets and starting playing with data

and technology and just increasingly

started to put pressure on profitability

and especially for an independent like

us so how how do we win how do we

compete in compete in this sort of

market so basically our answer to this

has been data um and being smart about

it right we don't have huge budget

um and we have a lot of historical

constraints but at the same time we

we've been forced to think more so what

we've done is we've tried to build a

business architecture centered around

data and this data helps understand our

customer base better which essentially

helps us um serve them better and more

profitably and in a way that is relevant

to them so yes this presentation is

about personalization and

relevancy um I guess usually that means

kind of you know you see banners on the

sites or you know carousels and things

like that for recommendations but

actually personalization is much more so

we're talking here about how to affect

the entire marketing mix to ensure

you're relevant for your customer so

ensuring you give them the products they

need the at the price they need in the

location they prefer and with a message

that they

understand so over here you can see our

technology stack which is by far perfect

um so as I said there's loads of

historical limitations there's loads of

budget constraints like any other

business um there's limited

implementation resource so it's in a

continuous

Evolution um but what we've done is we

we have built it around three key pillar

systems so magenta open source at the

center of it as you can see then our Erp

system and then um map digital which is

our CDP and our email marketing platform

um and then around these we've um

essentially selected technologies that

um kind of work in a headless composable

sort of structure um and each of each

have their own specialisms where we need

it or we've decided to build our own

stuff if if if it was um

better so the idea is that we are

collecting as much data as we can uh

about our customers from all the

interactions they have with our business

be it online or in our branches um and

then we're housing this data in a

platform um in a way that we can make it

actionable right because data without

action is pretty much just a bunch of

we've created a data

warehouse um around built around Magento

because Magento can then communicate

with uh map which is the platform that

we use for activating uh this data um

and essentially means we can um collect

it and pass it in a realtime way um and

um we can create a unified Omni channel

view of our customer

base um so these are all the various you

know data sources how they're utilized

and how they're utilized in various

contexts so the idea is that basically

as opposed to a spreadsheet um the

beauty of of data in an artificial

intelligence sort of model is that it

keeps being updated in real time it's

live basically keeps learning um and

over the lifetime business um a customer

will have various interactions with that

business um hundreds of interactions and

will flow into various states of

Engagement so they might be loyal now

then they might disengage for a while

they might even leave maybe they come

back a couple of years later um also the

the lines of Engagement are blurred and

very much for a business like ours

that's um a bricks and clicks sort of

business so someone might

um ring go on the website ring place an

order um then go in branch and collect

it then call in another branch and try

to place another order for another

location then go online and check their

transaction then do a quote in an email

so there's all kinds of interactions um

and then um we also have a variety of

other bits of information like what

trade type are they and what coupon

codes did they use what payment methods

did they use what types of projects do

they have um so it kind of all starts to

look a bit like this um a bit messy but

at the same time um there is a method in

the

madness so how how do we utilize this

data so essentially we're going to start

with the traditional the marketing

communication side of things so in terms

of email marketing

um basically as you can see we have

loads of dashboards and various types of

reports that we have created um in map

um but essentially in email marketing

the cation and analy uh analyzing of

data has allowed us to answer important

optimization questions such as um which

creative message works better for which

type of audience or um which campaign

and what timing of the campaign um has

performed better for which audience

groups or what you know what timings are

best to send that um and for which

audience group or product

group then we're also utilizing this

data for um automation so we have

created um quite a complex system of

automated email and SMS

Journeys um so this is basically

designed to bring a personalized message

at scale and at the right time depending

on the customer segment so we've we've

built a load of complex automation flows

this actually is one of the simpler ones

um to basically proactively manage

customers along their Jour Journey with

our business and the end goal here is

that we want them to keep being engaged

with our brands or our portfolio of

Brands um and we want to keep them loyal

and we want to prevent churn so we want

to identify when that churn might happen

before it actually happens and intervene

um because um that's that's really how

we're going to be driving business

profitably in the long term um and you

know the messages are sometimes offers

um sometimes we add personalized

promotions relevant guides and tips

relevant product information or new

product developments um that sort of

stuff so our um our programs look at

customer behavior and customer types and

they're implemented for both online and

Branch customers so we collect data from

across the board and also these

campaigns are supported by our sales and

account management teams so they know

what sort of message we put out there

they um continue with that that message

in the offline world and vice versa the

information that they gather from from

customers over the phone or inperson

meetings um are fed back into the

machine as it were um and also through

the analytics side of map AI so the

artificial intelligence side of things

um basically we're we're managing to do

what I just said before is we don't just

want to know and feed data about what

has already happened we want to also put

in their predictions and signals and

learnings that only really a machine can

do at scale so that we know um what

might happen and either prevent it if

it's about churn or encourage it if it's

about loyalty and repeat purchase um and

this really is at the foundation of our

um loyalty programs which um are in

development at the moment

um now um we also collect a lot of data

about um products and customers so um

because we have such a wide brand

portfolio and product

portfolio um it's important to try and

understand uh you know cor important

questions like correlations between

products or um how do users interact

with multiple brands or how do users

interact between our online Brands and

our offline Brands um and what are the

relationships across various product

categories or product ranges what do we

know with our industry experience versus

what the data tells us because sometimes

um people and our customers will behave

in ways that we haven't predicted right

we want to sell a system in a certain

way and actually people decide to use

our product in a completely different

way and that just brings us um something

new and interesting that we can then

take on and develop upon so

[Music]

um that data then is used for product

recommendations now the product

recommendations um they happen as I said

both on our websites but also at our

trade counter so this is all about

upselling cross- selling trying to make

sure that we give the customers what

they need for their project even when

they don't know fully what they

require um because most of our products

are bought as a system right you're not

usually going to change just an element

of your guttering you're usually going

to change the entire gutter system on

your house which means you need all the

important components to make the project

work otherwise you will have

installation failure or you'll be

missing important items so our Challenge

online is to make sure that customers

see all the products that they need for

their project um and then our product

page recommendations um we do a lot of

AB testing in then in them we add a lot

of our product knowledge we add a lot of

Knowledge from our sales team uh and our

trade counter and then um we essentially

the overall objective is

they are satisfied but also we improve

our basket value and therefore our um

our

profitability um now so the biggest

challenge um is that we yes we feed this

data into our sales teams and our sales

team feed data to us to feed the model

but um from an online perspective we

really need to try and build this

face-to-face relationship that we can't

really have um in a uh online you know

there's no one um on the website sitting

there and going to every single customer

asking them about their different

requirements um so basically this

technology is allowing us to kind of

replicate that sort of relationship um

and intervene with product

recommendations at the time of need for

that particular customer and in that

particular context um to prevent them

from going into dis disengage States or

to um upsell and cross

cell now we also use the same product

data for um to improve our search

experience online so again when you go

to the trade counter you can just ask

someone okay right I have this project

and I need this particular thing or

maybe you don't really know what you

need so you just go there and I don't

know one of our branches someone might

say yeah I need a I need a bolt for my

you know project well I don't know what

I need I don't know what size what type

what anything so then there's an advisor

there that takes you through all the

questions and tries to find what you

actually need whereas again online has

an issue in that it can't really do that

um for every customer so then the

on-site search experience becomes very

important to make sure that the queries

we understand that the queries that

customers put in however generic they

may be they're channeled in the right

way to the product categories or to the

articles that are relevant for

them so these are just examples of the

implementation um so yeah the search

query might um surface uh products

articles um

categories and then obviously we have

various abilities to control

that now um so outside of email and

product recommendations and search um we

utilize this data also um to understand

the role of various um communication

channels and to plan our communication

strategy um so you

know questions um that can now be fairly

easily answered um around um which of

our channels are better for Acquisitions

and which are better for retention and

how do we reward them appropriately to

drive business growth and not

cannibalization um what products are

bought from which channel and which

campaign do particular customer segments

have an affiliation with a particular

Channel

um do um what's the profitability per

Channel and overall

um and are any particular channels for

example more responsive to coupon codes

than others

um

then we also collect data um to reduce

friction points so friction points can

come from various things obviously we've

talked about search that's a potential

friction point where you can't find what

you need but also there might be issues

with the the ux the user Journey design

there might be issue with the technology

used there might be issue with issues

with the code um because obviously

Magento is a complex Beast as we know

and there's always um things going on

and things to improve so essentially we

we have invested in technology that then

feeds into the same Central Source um to

try and understand where these friction

points happen right because ultimately

what the these friction points mean is

people come on the site they can't find

what they need they need or they become

frustrated they can't check out so then

they leave so that means we've spent

money to acquire them and we've lost

them and potentially they're not coming

back again which is very bad in the long

run so through utilizing this data we've

made other decisions um around payment

platforms for example so that's that was

important for us to understand okay what

sort of payment methods do our customers

in particular want uh because there are

certain things that people in the

building industry prefer and depending

if they're on site and they're on their

mobile phones and they just quickly want

to order something

um then trying to create again this this

um seamless experience between online

and and our stores that's always our

biggest challenge whatever we offer in

one channel we need to offer in the

other other channel because ultimately

our customers interact with our entire

brand

um then um Security Options and um

credit opportunities so our industry

buys a lot on credit um and that's the

standard in branches again that's not

usually the standard online but that's

something that you know the same

customer who is a trade uh might want to

transact With Us online and might expect

the same service and the same credit

terms as they are in their local branch

um and then security as well

particularly since covid we've had quite

a few attempts for fraud and things like

that which um again investing in a in a

good payment Gateway technology has

helped us ensure we minimize the losses

from there and then we've also

had crucial decisions this has also

influenced crucial decisions about about

um our front end and ux and and UI so um

what we're doing at the moment and some

of you might recognize is we're

investing heavily in um redesigning uh

Magento in a headless

um system in a headless um structure um

using Hua actually to deliver a fast and

modern user

experience and then we've utilized this

data for more than just marketing

communication so there's implications

for The Wider business context so for

example we've refined our tracking um

and are passing more data so that now we

can optimize our search activity better

both paid and organic then the customer

segmentation and um recency frequency

monetary value models um are now fed in

our sales and account management team

they inform our price list and pricing

structure uh they also inform um our

procurement strategies so new products

that we should bring to the market based

on customer feedback and customer

interaction with various ranges then

location analysis is informing our

Branch expansion strategies so where the

pockets of profitability are and where

we should invest to open a new

Branch um and then also the the overall

efficiency and profitability of data um

has given us has the mental and monetary

space to look into even more um software

that can you know kind of feed this this

virtuous circle of data and the pbsl

Machine so um yeah as we've been just

a quick note to end we've been talking a

lot about data and we've been talking

about tech um however um

I think the key thing uh here is also to

remember about people uh so I've in the

last couple of years I dealt I've dealt

with a lot of change in our company

implementing digital transformation and

cultural transformation and process and

strategy um but really it is about

people and um I personally love teeken

data but um without people to interpret

and apply this data um creatively to The

Wider business context it literally can

be just a bunch of nonsense uh with a

high price tag so um getting people

invested in this journey I think is

crucial because ultimately people buy

from people so if you want to achieve

sustainable business growth then the key

thing is yeah pick the right technology

but also make sure that you get your

team on board um and get them invested

and get them to actually love the data

and Tech that you've you've invested

in thank you

[Applause]