In the world of ecommerce, customers expect B2B platforms to work as well as the consumer ordering websites and portals they use to order everyday items with ease. And, if your ecommerce platform doesn’t deliver that experience, you can’t build the customer trust needed to drive growth.
Case Study: How we create consumer-like experiences for our B2B customers
Discover the key to success in the redevelopment of Shell’s B2B ecommerce platform.
Key Takeaways
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Understanding what customers want and need from a platform means taking a customer-led approach to development. To achieve this with the reimagining of Shell MarketHub, the team built strong strategic partnerships with customers to inform their design decisions.
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The MarketHub team collaborated with customers at every step of the development process – from initial expectations to iterative testing – to make sure there were no surprises when the final platform was deployed.
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The revamped version of Shell MarketHub (known as MarketHub 2.0) has had an immediate impact. Average basket sizes across orders are up, while personalisation has opened opportunities for new revenue through recommended products – proving the benefits of a customer-led approach.
To meet the evolving needs of customers, the Shell MarketHub B2B ecommerce platform underwent an extensive redevelopment.
Bringing in all the elements you’d expect to see from leading consumer ordering portals, MarketHub 2.0 has rapidly increased the number of products and services that users add to their baskets during an order and opened new revenue streams across existing customers.
It’s an ideal example of how moving to a customer-led approach can deliver a swift positive impact. And why working closely with our customers to better understand their needs, listen to their feedback and take an iterative approach to development is the key to success.
The challenge
A critical challenge for B2B ecommerce is the fact that customers expect platforms to deliver the same efficient and convenient experience they get from consumer sites like Amazon. However, achieving this isn’t always easy – as Romi Arman, Global Head eCommerce & Digital Transformation for Shell, explains.
“We keep hearing how customers use their experience of B2C platforms like Amazon to benchmark things in their professional lives,” says Arman. “They expect things to be easy. They expect things to be intuitive. They expect things to work. But, in B2B, we come from a world where we expected B2B customers to memorise 10-digit product codes to place orders.”
How do we create an Amazon B2C-like experience for our B2B customers? Fast-forward to now, to MarketHub 2.0, we’ve started to achieve what we dreamt of building.
And a poor ecommerce experience can create much larger problems for a business – especially when it comes to building lasting relationships with their customers.
“I firmly believe that, if you don’t get the basic experience right in ecommerce, then you won’t get customer trust,” explains Arman. “And, if you don’t get their trust, it’s hard to do all the fancy stuff you want to do in terms of cross-selling, bundling offers or selling digital solutions. So, if you don’t build that basic trust then you can’t really grow the business with customers online.”
It’s a challenge that will resonate with many large global companies. With so many businesses to manage, products to offer and teams of people to manage, getting the basics right can often be more complex than expected. Which is why a new approach was needed when Arman and his team sat down to reimagine the MarketHub platform.
Shell Lubricant Solutions: MarketHub Q&A
Read the transcript
Title: Shell Lubricant Solutions: MarketHub Q&A Video
Duration: 1.53 minutes
Description:
Insights from Shell MarketHub spokesperson Romi Arman talking about how the Shell’s B2B platform was built using customer feedback and how it’s designed to create trust with customers.
The interview is a first-person Q&A with Romi Arman as he answers three key questions on building trust and evolving the MarketHub platform. Footage is used throughout to highlight the types of customers that are relevant to the discussion as well as showing footage sequences of the self-service ordering portal.
How to create consumer-like experience for our B2B customers: Key Learnings from Shell’s self-service ordering portal Shell MarketHub Transcript
[Background music plays]
The music is bright and uplifting. The music is played throughout the video.
[Footage on screen]
A camera pans into and around an office building with text cascading into the frame. When all the text is visible on the screen, the footage changes, and the camera pans from left to right around an individual in an office space using a laptop.
[Text Displays]
How to create a consumer-like experience for our B2B customers
Key learnings from Shell’s self-service ordering portal
Shell MarketHub
[MarketHub Footage sequence]
A short animation sequence plays showing the upload document page of the MarketHub platform.
[Scene Transition]
A white screen appears with the Shell pecten logo placed in the left corner of the frame. The text cascades onto the frame.
[Text Displays]
How does MarketHub help to provide a customer focused service?
[Scene Transition]
Recorded footage from the interview with the speaker, Romi Arman, is played. Romi is being interviewed in a first-person headshot style with an office workspace in the background. A white box appears with the name of the speaker, and the speaker’s job title. The Shell pecten logo is placed in the left-hand corner of the frame.
[Name of speaker]
Romi Arman
[Speech Title]
Global Head of E-commerce & Digital Transformation, Shell
[Text Displays/Conversation]
I think we went in consciously over the last two and a half years when we redesigned the platform to really start to work from the customer back. You’re going to hear this phrase come through a lot in Shell.
[Footage overlay]
Scene transitions to show two customers with high vis vests are using a tablet to look at the screen.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
And that’s because Shell, as an organisation, is really starting
[Footage overlay]
Scene transitions to show Shell customer wearing hard hat on a wind farm. The customer looks from the tablet to the wind turbines.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
to pivot from being very product led to being very customer led.
[Footage overlay]
Scene transitions to show a Shell employee showing Shell customer information on a laptop on a construction site.
[Scene Transition]
A white screen appears with the Shell pecten logo placed in the left corner of the frame. The text cascades onto the frame.
[Text Displays]
What’s the key to making MarketHub a success?
[Scene Transition]
Recorded footage from the interview with the speaker, Romi Arman, is played. Romi is being interviewed in a first-person headshot style with an office workspace in the background. The Shell pecten logo is placed in the left-hand corner of the frame.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
If you start from the technology first, you’re always going to miss the mark.
[Footage overlay]
A group of three customers in a warehouse wearing high vis jackets and hardhats are working together on a computer and tablet device.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
And so, you start from the customer,
[Footage Overlay]
The scene transitions to an individual walking through a field of crops at dusk.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
and you understand what the customer frictions are that you need to try to solve.
[Footage Overlay]
The scene transitions to footage of a customer in a high vis vest and hardhat looking at a mobile device showing the mobile version of MarketHub on the screen.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
Then the technology comes into play as a way to find solutions.
[Scene Transition]
Recorded footage from the interview with the speaker, Romi Arman, is played. Romi is being interviewed in a first-person headshot style with an office workspace in the background. The Shell pecten logo is placed in the left-hand corner of the frame.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
I also firmly believe that if you don’t get the basic experience right
[Footage overlay]
The scene transitions to close-up footage of a female with glasses working in front of a laptop with the reflection of MarketHub in the lenses of the glasses. The scene transitions to recorded footage from the interview with the speaker, Romi Arman.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
In e-commerce, then you’re not going to get customer’s trust.
[Scene Transition]
A white screen appears with the Shell pecten logo placed in the left corner of the frame. The text cascades onto the frame.
[Text Displays]
What next for Shell MarketHub?
[Scene Transition]
Recorded footage from the interview with the speaker, Romi Arman, is played. Romi is being interviewed in a first-person headshot style with an office workspace in the background. The Shell pecten logo is placed in the left-hand corner of the frame.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
Once you build that experience, you gain the trust of customers. What more then can you do with the same set of captive customers that you have.
[Footage overlay]
The scene transitions to an animated sequence of the MarketHub platform from the homepage moving into different sections of the website from accounts to product overviews, then orders, tutorials and finally ending on an example of what the platform looks like on laptop, tablet and smartphone.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
How do we build this connected digital ecosystem so that for the customer it’s just one window shop front.
[Scene Transition]
Recorded footage from the interview with the speaker, Romi Arman, is played. Romi is being interviewed in a first-person headshot style with an office workspace in the background. The Shell pecten logo is placed in the left-hand corner of the frame.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
MarketHub is going to be that platform that connects multiple of our different solutions
[Footage overlay]
The scene transitions to show footage of two customer in a large warehouse with products behind them as they look at a laptop.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
across Shell together into one seamless customer experience.
[Scene Transition]
Recorded footage from the interview with the speaker, Romi Arman, is played. Romi is being interviewed in a first-person headshot style with an office workspace in the background. The Shell pecten logo is placed in the left-hand corner of the frame.
[Text Displays/Conversation]
And that’s kind of the space where we want to be.
[Scene Transition]
A white screen appears with text.
[Text Displays]
Read our case study to see how we are responding to B2B customer feedback
[Scene Transition]
Shell Lubricant Solutions wordmark and Shell Pecten logo sit on the frame.
[Text Displays]
Shell Lubricant Solutions.
The solution
Meeting customer needs with a refreshed B2B ecommerce platform means fully understanding what users wanted to see. So, strong partnerships with those customers are the key to success. It’s all part of what Arman refers to as ‘working from the customer back’.
“In the past, with our engineering pedigree at Shell, we’ve tended to start with the guys in the white lab coats when creating a product,” he says. “But now, we’re making the important move of pivoting from being product-led to being customer-led.”
To redesign the MarketHub platform, Arman and his team started with the customer. Everything was geared around understanding what customers wanted from their ecommerce experience – then working backwards in a sense to make sure version 2.0 matched those expectations.
We started from the customer, understanding how they’d like the experience to be – then working backwards to redesign the platform, redesign the process and redesign the entire experience to match what the customer is expecting.
As Arman explains, this meant recreating many of the elements that consumers take for granted in consumer-based ecommerce.
“It was important to create a system in which it was easy for customers to log in, search for products and place an order,” he says. “The ordering page looks exactly like how you’d see product images displayed on Amazon. Customers can place orders then track their deliveries, just as you’d track an Amazon parcel to your doorstep.”
Alongside that, MarketHub 2.0 needed to make it simple for customers to make payments online and check their documentation (including invoices). Altogether, from working closely with customers, the team had identified the need for a much more streamlined and efficient user experience – all of which informed the development of the refreshed platform.
Transforming your Shell MarketHub experience
Transforming your Shell MarketHub experience
Read the transcript
Title: Shell Lubricant Solutions: MarketHub Transformation Video
Duration: 1.03 minutes
Description:
It’s time for you to experience the new Shell MarketHub, revolutionised around you and your needs. We make it easier to complete your tasks, so you can simply click, complete, and get on with your day.
[Background music plays]
The music is bright and uplifting. The music is played throughout the video.
[Footage on screen]
We see a split screen shot of four different types of customer; two female office workers, a male and a male customer wearing a hardhat.
[Voiceover]
They're here the contenders ready to take on today's challenges.
Skilled, focused, confident.
What's powering their day?
MarketHub.
[Footage on screen]
The scene transitions to an animated sequence of the MarketHub platform from the homepage.
We then see one of the customers: Zara at her office desktop using Markethub.
[Voiceover]
Helping Zara to start the day with an easy win - placing her order quickly on Shell MarketHub.
[Footage on screen]
We see a second customer: Jack looking at his smartphone on site.
[Voiceover]
Jack is confident his orders in process receiving personalised notifications from Shell MarketHub.
[Footage on screen]
We see a third customer: Susan looking busy at her office desk taking calls and dealing with issues.
[Voiceover]
It's a hectic day for Susan but she can make informed business decisions quickly with up-to-date information from Shell MarketHub.
[Footage on screen]
We see a fourth customer: Ahmed in a board meeting with colleagues where he is delivering information.
[Voiceover]
Ahmed's team are relying on him for answers with Shell MarketHub he provides accurate information to keep them up to speed.
[Footage on screen]
We see a split screen shot of these four different types of customer; two female office workers, a male and a male customer wearing a hardhat. Repeated from the opening sequence.
[Voiceover]
The winners taking things off their to-do list powered by the award-winning Shell MarketHub.
[Footage on screen]
The scene transitions to an animated sequence of the MarketHub platform from the homepage.
[Voiceover]
Kick start your Shell MarketHub journey to click complete and get on with your day powering connections
[Scene Transition]
Shell Lubricant Solutions wordmark and Shell Pecten logo sit on the frame.
[Text Displays]
Shell Lubricant Solutions.
The process
Understanding what your customers want and being able to deliver on that expectation are two very different things. So, at every stage, Arman and his team anchored the development of MarketHub 2.0 around four core customer outcomes that they were looking to deliver:
The four step process
Read the transcript
This is an infographic of the four-step process. It contains four icons in a circular motion with yellow arrows. The copy reads:
Step 1 - Make things easy for customers. A critical starting point for any platform or service, and the driving force behind the need for the smoothest possible user experience.
Step 2 - Personalise the experience. So that the platform knows who customers are and they don't have to keep typing in their details every time they want to make a purchase.
Step 3 - Provide a proactive service. Letting customers know what's going on before they ask. For example, sending an alert notification ahead of time should there be an issue with delivery.
Step 4 - Reliable data. Making sure that customers can trust every bit of ingo they see on the platform.
To follow these principles, the MarketHub 2.0 team needed to forge effective strategic partnerships with their customers. Partly because they needed those customers to illuminate the way forward, which we can see in the process used to reimagine the platform’s user experience.
“For us, user experience isn’t about how we design for customers. It’s about designing with customers,” says Arman. “So, typically we work on what we call a human-centric design process. We spend time interviewing a customer to understand what their frictions are when using the platform. We then go back to the development team and design the ideal experience based on what we’ve learnt.”
From there, the team would build prototypes for the platform that they put in front of customers to test as part of an iterative process.
“Only at the point where the customer is happy with it do we build the product out,” explains Arman. “And, as we go through the build, we continue cycling it through with the customer. So, by the time we get to the final deployed product, there should be no surprises for customers. It should meet all their expectations.”
Shell MarketHub 2.0 generates around 100,000 orders a month. It doesn’t sound like a lot in B2B, but the value equates to around $19bn a year. To put it in perspective, it’s double the size of revenue of a company like eBay.
The result of this focus on convenience and personalisation is that MarketHub 2.0 is driving new revenues. For example, average basket sizes on the platform have increased by around 30% since its redevelopment. It has also seen a positive response from users, with a customer satisfaction index (CSI) score of between 8.2 and 8.3.
“The highest CSI score we’d ever see in a B2B environment is 8.5, so that’s really good,” explains Arman. “On the whole, it’s a much-improved experience for customers compared to the previous platform.”
The importance of effective partnerships
So, what can businesses learn from the MarketHub 2.0 development experience? Arman warns against creating solutions that feel like ‘an aspirin looking for a headache’.
“I’d say you can never go wrong by starting with the customer,” he says. “If you start with the tech first, you’ll always miss the mark because the problem you’re trying to solve is not yet clear. And don’t assume you know what customers want. Ask the customers what they want, and they’ll tell you. You’re always going to be safer doing it that way round.”
Once you build the experience and you gain the trust of customers, what more can you do with the same set of captive customers that you have?
For Arman, this is the key to building trust with customers and establishing a partnership that leads to much bigger ambitions.
“This is where it starts to get interesting because you can begin to think about new digital solutions and revenue streams,” he says. “However, it must start with the customer. If you don’t understand their problems, you can’t provide solutions and you won’t be able to build that trust.”
From greater personalisation to providing the building blocks for other digital solutions across Shell, MarketHub 2.0 has huge potential for future growth. And, ultimately, it offers an insightful case study for how B2B businesses can drive ecommerce success when they develop the right partnerships with their customers.
MarketHub Statistics
Read the transcript
This is an image of person holding an iPad with the following statistics on:
- Steps to place orders reduced by 33%
- Basket sizes increased by 30%
- Achieved CSI score of 8.3%
- Unassisted order completion 89.4%
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