SkillNet’s Marketplace Transformation for a Leading US Tire Distributor

This case study was updated on June 13, 2024

Introduction

Our client, a leading U.S. tire distributor, embarked on a mission to revolutionize and reshape the dynamics of the tire industry. Their strategy? Unite tire dealers nationwide, offering the collective buying power of a national enterprise and a carefully curated B2B marketplace to connect select suppliers with a captive customer audience. The ultimate goal was to drive greater growth while delivering exceptional experiences and value to both sellers and buyers alike.

Business Challenges

As the client pursued growth, they encountered several roadblocks with their existing marketplace solution that was hindering their strategy.

• Limitations of the Existing Marketplace Solution: The existing solution proved to be a bottleneck to growth, lacking the functionality to provide an engaging catalog and meet the increasing demands of buyers for a seamless purchase journey. As the customer base and supplier partnerships grew, the system struggled to keep up. Pricing discrepancies and an inability to track transactions further hindered the organization’s ability to effectively serve a larger audience.
• Lack of Personalization and Information Transparency: In today’s market, customers expect personalized experiences. The old system’s failure to deliver tailored experiences led to lower adoption rates and decreased Average Order Values (AOVs). The lack of price transparency and clear shipping information only added to these challenges, impacting customer satisfaction and the bottom line.
• Drawbacks of the Rebate-based Revenue Model: The client also faced challenges with their rebate-based revenue model. This approach led to delayed revenue recognition and high overhead costs due to the complexity of managing rebate programs. The convoluted process of securing rebates negatively impacted the overall customer experience.

Solution

To address these modernization challenges, the client turned to SkillNet to lead the effort in implementing Mirakl’s marketplace platform in order to deliver the robust B2B marketplace capabilities the client’s strategy required: a more streamlined supplier onboarding process, the ability to more easily offer a broader range of products to customers, and an enhanced customer experience with richer product content, more personalized shopping experiences, and greater transparency in pricing and shipping information.

SkillNet also helped with the client’s transition from their traditional rebate-based revenue model to a more efficient commissions-based approach, which improved the overall customer experience by streamlining the purchasing process.

Results & Benefits

• More Scalable Growth and Greater Ability to Attract High Profile Marketplace Sellers: Mirakl’s marketplace platform streamlined supplier onboarding, enabling the client to successfully onboard 16 new suppliers during the initial phase, including the active onboarding of a major U.S. brand with over 900 retail locations. It showcased the effectiveness of the new marketplace solution in attracting prominent brands, with the capability to accommodate an unlimited number of future sellers
• Higher Customer Satisfaction: the ability to deliver an enhanced customer experience led to greater customer satisfaction.
• Streamlined Financial Operations: the smooth transition to a commissions-based revenue model facilitated real-time revenue recognition on all orders.
• Seamless and Automated Supplier Payments: Mirakl Payout enabled automated and seamless payments to the Sellers of Record (SoRs), alleviating the stress on the finance department while ensuring accurate and efficient revenue recognition.

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