IGO Promo is a leading company in personalized promotional items for SMEs. As part of the Plato Group, IGO Promo focuses on the SME market through an e-commerce model, while sister company Compacon specializes in large corporate clients. In addition, Clipper, as an importer and printer of promotional products, is a major player in the market. Furthermore, IGO Promo recently won the award for best B2B webshop in the Netherlands, a well-deserved recognition for their years of dedication to digital transformation and improving the customer experience. We have the pleasure of speaking with Michael Brust, Commercial Manager at IGO Promo, to learn more about their strategy and approach.

A few years ago, IGO Promo faced challenges in its digital strategy with fragmentation and obsolescence. Elements like SEO and SEA worked separately, and there was little attention paid to maintaining technical systems. Streamlining all these aspects proved to be a huge challenge.

To improve their digital presence and increase online success, Michael set three goals for their e-commerce project: creating a new, collaborative team, setting up their own PIM, and building a commerce platform with integrated platforms like ads and reviews. This was no small feat, but it was crucial for their success.

IGO Promo has a history of successful collaborations with Intershop and Fenego. This time around, IGO Promo made the strategic decision to partner again with these trusted entities. The choice was driven by the robust B2B capabilities offered by the Intershop Commerce Platform, complemented by the specialized knowledge and technical expertise of implementation partner Fenego. Furthermore, the diverse range of competence centers within Xplore Group played a pivotal role in solidifying their decision. These centers provide comprehensive support to ensure the success of IGO Promo's project.

IGO Promo already had a webshop; however, it lacked online payment options. According to Michael, without this feature, the company couldn't truly call it a webshop but rather an online catalog. Initially skeptical about implementing online payments in the B2B sector, they decided to integrate the payment service provider (PSP) Adyen as it was a requirement for using Google Shopping. Today, 35% of customers conveniently pay online, even for orders as high as 25,000 euros. The website is attracting increasing daily traffic, while the number of customer service calls has significantly decreased. This demonstrates that the site's customer journey has improved so much that customers have no reason to contact customer service. "I think that's the biggest compliment; it shows that your site is working well," says Michael.

IGO Promo also made the decision to discontinue the use of the printed catalog. This decision came after a test period where the number of orders through the printed catalog was analyzed. The results were clear: the printed catalog was costing IGO Promo more than it was generating, and it was time to fully focus on strengthening its online presence. IGO Promo transformed from a traditional offline-driven company to a data-driven prototyping test company in just three years. By testing everything live in the market, making decisions based on results, and implementing improvements, IGO Promo has proven that it is possible to transform a company while remaining successful.

IGO Promo not only implemented Adyen to achieve a well-functioning website but also integrated various other external platforms around the new Intershop Commerce Platform to further optimize the digital journey for their end customers. One crucial platform in this regard is Tweakwise, which enhances search, filtering, and navigation on e-commerce platforms, while optimizing the understanding of this process for e-commerce managers. With Tweakwise, IGO Promo can effectively respond to current trends, such as the shift towards sustainable products. Approximately 40% of IGO Promo's revenue comes from sustainable or semi-sustainable products. To make it easier for customers to find these products, the company added a material list with labels to Tweakwise.IGO Promo has made significant progress in expanding its product range, connecting almost all major suppliers in Europe to the system. Thanks to XML or API links, they added 55 suppliers to IGO Promo, which expanded their assortment from 1700 to over 11,000 products. While managing this extensive assortment requires extra product management, IGO Promo's clever use of Tweakwise enables the platform to identify which product belongs to which category. They set up over 5000 rules manually, which turned the company into perhaps the largest power user of Tweakwise. All these rules are now automatically applied, making it easier for customers to find the desired product and optimizing the digital journey on IGO Promo.What's more, led by Carlo van Veghel, the Category & Data Lead for the EU region, IGO Promo developed its own PIM system. This makes it significantly easier and faster to handle pricing and strive for healthy margins.Fenego has extensive experience and expertise in integrating external platforms such as PSPs and search engines. With in-depth knowledge of various platforms, including Adyen and Tweakwise, Fenego can help businesses make the most of their e-commerce platform and deliver an optimized digital journey for their customers. With Fenego as a partner, a smooth implementation and seamless integration of external platforms with your existing e-commerce platform are guaranteed.

IGO Promo has already achieved a lot, but that doesn't mean the company lacks further ambitions. Michael and his team are already thinking about the future and what needs to be done to continue growing. To achieve their international growth ambitions, they want to expand their presence in Europe. After all, if their success formula is already working in 13 countries, why not in more? To make those international growth ambitions come true, a number of steps still need to be taken, as their current platform simply doesn't have the capacity.There are plans for a completely new version of the content management system, with a renewed front-end and improved security. They want to expand their e-commerce platform as much as possible in a composable way by linking the Intershop Commerce Platform to a CMS and various other systems, such as Trustpilot reviews, Tweakwise, and Google Ads, to create the best possible customer journey.Michael continues to dream big about the future of IGO Promo. He would love to roll out the concept to the United States. "But even if we're the largest in Europe in five years and can multiply our revenue by five, I'm already dreaming. That would be a great achievement."

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