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W.W. Grainger has such a good handle on who its more than 2 million business customers are that it recently redesigned its website to cater to two specific types: buyers in the field, using any of Grainger’s more than 1.2 million maintenance and repair products, and purchasing agents, placing orders for Grainger products from corporate headquarters. Customers who need a product right now in the field can enter their ZIP code to find out whether one of Grainger’s more than 360 U.S. branches is nearby and has the required item. (The company has 709 branches worldwide.) If so, they can pick it up, often the same day. Purchasing agents take a longer view of their inventory, and they like Grainger’s ability to recognize them online, tell them what they’ve ordered in the past, and help them check the status of their current orders. Both types of customers benefit from Grainger’s mobile apps, which includes a new app for the iPad. The new app provides real-time product availability, detailed product pages to provide customers with key information to help select an item that fits their needs, and a single-page checkout that includes customer information. Field workers can request purchasing approval for needed items, while purchasing agents can approve the requests without logging on to Grainger’s website, even if they’re away from their desks. Anyone ordering from the website can also use the handy click to chat or click to call buttons to directly connect with a Grainger customer service rep for help. In fact, the website alerts Grainger’s staff when a customer is having a problem with an order, so a customer service employee can step in with a chat or invitation to offer immediate help.
Grainger’s successful development of its e-commerce division has enabled it to grow its online business more than twice as fast as its base operations, increasing it 23 percent in one recent year to help the company reach more than $9 billion in annual revenues. Many of Grainger’s customers are in government offices or schools; in heavy or light manufacturing operations; or in retail, wholesale, fleet maintenance, or asset management.
“We’re giving our customers more control,” the company’s vice president of global e-commerce says. “Our platform enables customers to manage purchasing and spending better.”
In what other ways can Grainger provide a good customer experience via its mobile apps and company website?
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