Leading UK Off-Road Motorbike Parts Distributor Apico Selects ODSNet™ to Solve E-Commerce/SAP B1 Live Data Integration

Its new B2B website will ensure dealers across the UK and Europe always see the latest stock, offers and order information, while making it easier to exploit eBay

Guildford, UK, February 26, 2018– On Demand Solutions, creators of ODSNet™, the B2B e-commerce platform for SAP Business One, has announced that Apico, the UK’s leading off-road parts and clothing distributor for motocross, trials, supermoto, trail riding, enduro and quad racing, has selected ODSNet as the basis for a new, modernised B2B e-commerce site for use by dealers across the UK and parts of Europe.

It chose ODSNet based on the recommendation of its SAP Business One provider, Signum Solutions, because of the platform’s tight integration with SAP B1. This will mean Apico can manage its e-commerce site in a more automated, seamless way and keep it continuously in sync with back-office systems.

Apico had been a family-owned business since its foundation in 1984 by 3-times World Trials Champion Yrjo Vesterinen. When the original owners retired in 2014, long-standing employees Anna Lena Eriksson and Dylan Brown took over the Burnley, Lancashire-based business. The new plans for the website are part of their aim to modernise the way the company operates by making more use of digital channels.

The business has seen growing interest from dealers going online to choose and order products, a trend it wanted to embrace. “People now expect to have all the answers readily available to them online, without having to call or email,” Dylan explains. “They also want instant visibility – of invoices, order status, new products, special offers and so on. With ODSNet we’ll be able to provide all of that.”

The sticking point with the old website was the inability to link Apico’s e-commerce activity to its everyday business systems, where the latest stock, pricing and account information resides. “We had struggled to find a solution to connect our web activities to SAP B1,” Anna says. “This created a lot of manual work and meant we could never be entirely confident that the web site carried current stock and pricing,” Anna explains. “We deal with a large volume of part numbers, so it’s hard to check everything manually.”

The outgoing web platform was also geared more to consumer purchasing, she notes. “Although our provider couldn’t have been more helpful, we had to make a lot of compromises with what we wanted to do. When our SAP provider found ODSNet – a B2B e-commerce specialist with accredited SAP integration, it was the answer we’d been looking for.”

Once Apico has deployed ODSNet, it expects online sales to grow from the current level of about 15 per cent to represent 40 per cent of total business, because of the increased convenience and transparency it offers to dealers.

The company will also take advantage of ODSNet’s Marketplaces option, allowing it to promote products on third-party sites such as eBay and Amazon. “We have done some limited business on eBay before but it has been very manual, whereas with ODSNet it will be much simpler and more automated,” Dylan notes.

Above all, it is ODSNet’s simplicity and reliability that excites Apico’s owners. “The ease of updating everything ourselves, and the confidence that whatever we decide to do in SAP will translate seamlessly to the website, are powerful capabilities that we will make good use of,” he concludes.

About ODS
On Demand Solutions (ODS) is the company behind ODSNet™ an end-to-end B2B e-commerce platform for SAP Business One. ODSNet helps wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers get their businesses online, quickly and painlessly.

The company founders have formidable, proven credentials in supply chain, accounting, ERP and fulfilment, and have applied this heritage and know-how to delivering a world-class, powerful and deeply integrated B2B e-commerce platform.

ODS has helped countless organisations like Swift Electrical, American Wholesale, WISKA UK, Armstrong Richardson and Sandhurst get their trade customers online quickly. More at www.ondemandsolutions.net or on Twitter @ODS_UK.

Contact
Carina Birt, PR for ODS
Carina@sarumpr.com
Tel: +44 7970 006624