Officeworks
Business objective
Business benefits
B2BE solutions
Customer Profile
Established 30 years ago in Richmond, Victoria, Officeworks offer includes everything from technology, stationery and furniture to art supplies, learning and development resources, as well as services like Print & Create and on-site tech support from Geeks2U.
Officeworks is committed to providing a seamless shopping experience for customers across Australia, no matter how they choose to shop. With over 170 stores nationwide, an extensive online range of 40,000 products, and delivery services reaching more than 3,000 postcodes, Officeworks makes it easy to access a wide range of products at low prices, wherever you are.
The Officeworks Business team supports Australian businesses of all sizes—from small enterprises to government agencies, schools, and early learning centres—helping them start, run, and grow. With a nationwide team of over 9,000 dedicated members, Officeworks empowers customers to work, learn, create, and connect.
The challenge
Before implementing B2BE’s solutions, Officeworks identified several opportunities to enhance their eCommerce offering for B2B customers:
- Manual order processing:
Officeworks had to manually handle sales orders, including customer purchase orders received in PDF format. This led to inefficiencies and labour-intensive processes. - Increased demand for punchout solutions:
Officeworks’ B2B customers required punchout capabilities to integrate with their procurement systems. - Complex blanket orders:
Customers from sectors like education would send blanket purchase orders. Officeworks needed to manually split into multiple individual orders for different locations. This created a significant workload for the customer service team.
The solution
B2BE implemented a combination of solutions to address these challenges:
- eCatalogue with Punchout:
B2BE developed a tailored eCatalogue system with punchout capability, allowing Officeworks to integrate directly with their B2B customers’ procurement systems e.g. Ariba and Oracle. This enabled seamless electronic ordering and pricing tailored to each customer’s needs. - EDI Integration:
Full end-to-end integration between Officeworks’ eCatalogue and their customers’ procurement systems was achieved through B2BE’s EDI network. Product, pricing, and stock availability data were transmitted through the B2BE EDI network three times a day, providing accurate and up-to-date information. - Sales Order Automation:
B2BE’s Sales Order Automation solution digitised PDF sales orders into EDI format, reducing manual data entry and improving order processing efficiency. - Automated Blanket Purchase Order Splitting:
B2BE also developed a solution within the EDI framework to automate the splitting of blanket purchase orders into multiple orders. This significantly reduced the labour-intensive manual processing for Officeworks, particularly for customers with multiple store locations.
The result
The transition to an EDI eCatalogue solution has significantly improved operational performance at Officeworks, strengthening customer relationships and driving substantial cost savings through:
- Reduced manual handling:
Before this, the team had to manually key in orders. Today, we’ve been able to redeploy team members from time-consuming data entry to higher value activities that support our B2B customers. - Increased efficiencies:
Streamlined processing has shortened the processing time from order placement to fulfilment, enabling quicker turnaround times. - Improved order processing accuracy:
Automated processing led to a decrease in return rate, resulting in in additional cost savings. - Centralised information access:
Customers now have direct access to product information, pricing and availability. This reduces the need for manual inquiries to process an order. - Designated support team:
Our dedicated team enhances our customers experience by fostering a better collaboration and reducing the lead time from initial setup to first order placement.
“Collaborating with B2BE not only enables Officeworks to expand our B2B channel, but also offers our customers a robust sales solution that effectively meets both our business objectives and our customers’ needs,” said Mr. Jason Pittaway, Premium Business Account Support Team Leader at Officeworks.
The collaboration between B2BE and Officeworks has brought significant transformation across the business, allowing Officeworks to deliver an enhanced B2B experience to their customers.
