Contractor Nation is a “network of networks”, comprising home improvement contractor dealer networks across the United States. Dealers must meet selection criteria to join a network for roofing, HVAC, and other trades. Once in a network, Contractor Nation provides the dealer with products from industry-leading brands along with access to ongoing training, marketing, financing and selling tools. Brands offered: Basement Systems, CleanSpace, National Radon Defense, Total Basement Finishing, Dr. Energy Saver, Attic Systems Insulation, Klaus Roofing Systems, Gutter Shutter, and RainDrop Pro Gutter Guard.
Industry: Residential construction – insulation, roofing, attic, basement, waterproofing, energy efficiency and more.
Market: B2B – home improvement contractors (dealers) throughout the U.S.
Differentiator: Contractor Nation connects several well-known brands with the local home improvement contractors who need products, providing exclusive value-added support for the contactors.
Company leaders wanted to leverage technology to improve efficiency – focusing on eliminating pain points for customers and employees, creating more automation, and reducing errors. Previously, customers placed orders by phone or email, which relied on print catalogs that may have outdated/non-specific pricing and had potential for errors. They wanted to implement more digital options to save customers time, improve accuracy, and streamline order processing.
The project was to create B2B portal functionality where buyers would see their unique product selection and pricing, enabling them to place orders directly, quickly, accurately, and 24/7.
Technology Stack
- Adobe Commerce Commerce On-Premise – 4 B2B stores, each with 1, 2, or 3 catalogs (total 9 catalogs)
- Microsoft Dynamics GP – ERP system
- Custom bi-directional connector between Adobe Commerce and Microsoft Dynamics
- SalesPad – CRM platform
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) On-Premise Managed Hosting
- Bynder – DAM (pending)
Contractor Nation offers over 2,700 products spanning 9 distinct product lines. Each dealer benefits from unique pricing and a personalized product selection. To address the high level of complexity, an ecommerce B2B buyer portal system was designed to seamlessly align with existing business rules and price books. The overarching goal was to provide a modern and efficient buying experience.
Once the discovery phase was concluded, the Harris Web Works team commenced the construction of an integrated ecommerce system. This system comprised four websites, encompassing nine separately branded catalogs. A custom pricing module was implemented, facilitating the mapping of prices on a per-product, per-customer basis.
A custom connector syncs data between the ERP system and the Magento site. Harris Web Works built the Adobe Commerce site and coordinated the connector integration with technology partner i95Dev (specialists in Microsoft Dynamics GP connectors) and Contractor Nation.
The system is primed for users to generate custom catalogs with real-time product data and pricing for easy printing or PDF sharing. The foundation laid enabled integration with a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system to centralize the vast library of resources into one source-of-truth platform.
The success of this endeavor was fueled by a meticulous discovery process, where Harris Web Works deeply understood Contractor Nation’s selling and ERP systems. The documented requirements, with a focus on pricing rules, led to the seamless integration of 4 stores, each focused on a separate category of products, with 9 brands spread across the 4 stores. This showcases the system’s efficiency and effectiveness, bringing tangible benefits to Contractor Nation.
By the end of year 1 of the site going live, 90% of customers were using it to place orders, far exceeding expectations of 10-20%.
Harris Web Works delivered impactful results for Contractor Nation by building a robust B2B portal platform that enables each customer to see their unique product selection and pricing per product. Seamless integration of complex pricing rules from the ERP system makes the system scalable. As more customers and products are added, the potential combinations of product selection and pricing per customer is endless. Tailored for complex B2B pricing, the system initially accommodated 3 distinct business entities (stores), each with its own domain, and 6 catalogs. This has grown to 4 stores and 9 catalogs.
This transformation significantly streamlined Contractor Nation’s ordering processes, reducing errors from the previous phone-based system. It also empowered customer service representatives to focus on higher-value tasks. Real-time access to current information replaced reliance on outdated print catalogs, enhancing efficiency and accuracy.
Now Contractor Nation and its dealers are poised for continuous growth, with Harris Web Works as the technical support partner, providing programming, hosting, and administrative services. By 2023, Contractor Nation was ready to replace their existing desktop ERP system with the industry-leading NetSuite cloud-based ERP system. HWW is in the process of building the new NetSuite platform, scheduled to launch Q1 2024. HWW is providing individualized training sessions to CN employees. A critical part of launching the new NetSuite ERP system was to fully integrate it with the Adobe Commerce system. HWW engineered and built a custom connector to facilitate bi-directional transfer of product, customer, and order data.
