TYGRIS Reigns Over B2B Ecommerce with BigCommerce B2B Edition

An entrepreneurial family pushing the boundaries

In 1971, Jed Simpson’s grandfather created a business in North Ayrshire, Scotland — initially to feed the family. Half a century later, Jed is now at the helm of what’s become TYGRIS, an established and trusted source of essential cleaning, lubrication and protection solutions for an expanding range of industries.

Named in the early 2000s after the tiger, TYGRIS has grown into a bold B2B business that’s built a strong identity by investing in its commitment to customers with industry-leading products, and the strength of the company’s online presence and reputation.

Fast forward to 2019, when Jed became General Manager. He was given a new objective to grow the company by a million pounds in a year. A fervent believer in the potential of online sales, he called Matt Sandham, director of the digital agency Bspoq, to launch the company’s ecommerce store.

Challenge

Nothing stops those who are pioneers at heart

Before launching on BigCommerce, the team was selling mainly through email and over the phone. And if changing the sales process wasn’t challenging enough, the timing didn’t work in TYGRIS' favor.

It took TYGRIS and Bspoq only a few months to set up the company’s B2B ecommerce website on BigCommerce at the beginning of 2020. Soon after the brand started educating customers on how to place orders through its website, the pandemic hit. “COVID-19 obliterated all those plans to bring people online using ecommerce,” explained Simpson. “Everyone just wanted to go back to their comfort zones — emails and phone calls — because there was so much uncertainty happening everywhere else.”

Even so, TYGRIS quickly realized the advantages of having an ecommerce store. With shortages across the UK for sanitizing products, shoppers, as well as TYGRIS, needed inventory data to be accurate. Because TYGRIS’ ecommerce website provides stock levels, pricing and product information, prospective customers were able to easily find what they were looking for and confidently place orders. 

Solution

The best partners are the ones that grow with you

When it came to selecting an ecommerce platform, the TYGRIS team needed a solution it could trust and quickly integrate with the company’s existing systems. “There were a few options that we looked at for ecommerce platforms,” explained Sandham. “But having used BigCommerce in the past on other projects and knowing how open and reliable their API system is, it made the decision very easy for us.”

BigCommerce B2B Edition offers even more functionality tailormade for B2B businesses, including a quick order pad that allows buyers to search for products by their codes as well as a price quotation system and a purchase order feature that enables better control and tracking of order details.

The team also wanted to avoid outgrowing its platform. “We chose BigCommerce because it can scale at the same level and speed as we do,” said Simpson. “The platform gives us the scalability, flexibility and openness we need to be able to go in, make changes and implement them right at the moment we need to.”

Results

Always a step ahead of the market

TYGRIS’ customers are adapting quickly to this new way of buying. When comparing results from January to November 2020 to the same period in 2021, sales have grown a lot with a 99% increase in orders and a 138% increase in revenue. And by optimizing the user experience and sales journey Bspoq has helped deliver a more than 140% increase in conversion rate of around 3.5% as of November 2021.

Additionally, TYGRIS' distributors needed to have access to store specific assets, data and functionalities. “We used BigCommerce's API and Dropbox Business API to create the middleware portal of MyTYGRIS.com,” explained Sandham. “It allows customers to connect to it via an API and place orders or check stock levels and data which are pushed or pulled from the BigCommerce platform with MyTYGRIS.com acting as validation between all connected systems.” By using BigCommerce’s headless solutions, TYGRIS now has an easier way to update and personalize the content on the portal and the storefront using a unique control panel.

Overall, results go beyond numbers for Simpson, “We've now got a two-year head start on everybody. We will keep leveraging that and making sure we stay well ahead in embracing new opportunities that come up, new technologies that emerge, and make sure that TYGRIS is the number one company within the industry for B2B ecommerce.”

Looking Ahead

First the UK, then the world

As of now, TYGRIS is mainly focused on the UK market, but already the company is attracting growing interest from the US; something the brand will look more closely at in the near future. In fact, Jed and the team are working on a significant rebranding of the company to reinforce its presence in the UK and build deeper connections with customers. Part of the rebranding will include the launch of short, entertaining and culture-led videos.

TYGRIS is eagerly awaiting the release of BigCommerce’s multi-storefront solution that will help the company scale globally and provide a truly localized experience in each new region. Bspoq, its marketing and development agency, is already experimenting with the solution in closed-beta testing. 

As for what advice Jed would give to other B2B businesses that haven’t launched an ecommerce store, he says — "Just do it."

“If today, you haven't done anything that scares you yet, then go online. Tomorrow you'll be thankful for it. It's a scary move. It feels like you're maybe compromising yourself by sharing too much information, but the fact is that everyone knows anyway. There's nothing to hide in the current age, with the internet being as strong as it is, so you might as well just be out there. The more people see you, the more your current and potential clients will notice and trust you. It's not a risk to do it; it’s a risk not to.”

Published: January 2022