Socomore, a specialist in chemical products for industry, recently launched a B2B e-commerce platform to meet the new expectations of its customers. Damien Duguet, Ebusiness & Digital Marketing Manager at Socomore, shares with us the issues, challenges and successes of this strategic project, carried out in collaboration with Smile. From the genesis of the project to its first successes, discover the keys to this digital transformation.

Chloé : Can you tell us a bit about Socomore?
Damien : Socomore is a company specialising in high-tech chemicals, with over 50 years of history. We manufacture high added-value products, in particular for the aeronautics and aerospace sectors, but also for the automotive, rail, manufacturing and energy industries. We offer a wide range of products: surface preparation and treatment, non-destructive testing, mastics, paints and functional coatings, hygiene and disinfection, etc. In all, we offer six major product families, meeting the diverse surface treatment needs of our customers. In terms of figures, Socomore generates sales of over €100 million and employs around 430 people.

Chloé : What is your role at Socomore?
Damien : I'm Head of Digital Marketing and e-Commerce. My role is to create value for all Socomore customers, whatever the channel or product (surface treatment, non-destructive testing, painting, etc.), and to do so using digital means. This includes CRM (Customer Relationship Management), PIM (Product Information Management), e-commerce site management, and even non-transactional sites. In concrete terms, I focus on generating qualified leads, e-commerce sales and also branding, which facilitates sales by strengthening our brand awareness.

Chloé : Where is Socomore based?
Damien : Our head office is in Vannes, but we have plants and offices around the world, notably in Yvelines, Vosges, Texas, California and Ireland. This global presence enables us to meet the expectations of our global customers, such as Airbus, Safran, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, who are looking for partners capable of providing them with seamless support wherever they operate.

Chloé : Can you tell us how Socomore's e-commerce project came about?
Damien : The e-commerce project officially started in 2023, but it's part of a wider vision to digitalise our B2B offering, which began before the pandemic. Initially, we launched an open source e-commerce platform with one of our subsidiaries, BABBCO, which specialises in non-destructive testing. This initial success encouraged us to extend the experiment to all our products and customers. The Covid crisis has also accelerated demand for B2B e-commerce solutions, and we wanted to offer our customers a fluid, fast and intuitive online purchasing experience to meet these changing expectations.

Chloé : What partners did you work with on this project?
Damien : For this project, we worked mainly with Smile and Adobe. We chose the Adobe Commerce platform (ex-Magento), a robust and scalable solution, and hosted it on Google Cloud Platform. Smile helped us set up and optimise this infrastructure to suit the specific needs of our sector.

Chloé : What were the main objectives and challenges of this B2B e-commerce project?
Damien : Our main objective was to meet our customers' expectations by simplifying their purchasing process. They are looking for a fast and efficient solution, with direct access to the technical information they need. So we designed an intuitive interface that allows them to order easily and track their purchases in real time. Internally, one of the challenges was change management. This project required our teams, particularly in customer services, marketing and sales, to adapt and implement new processes and tools.

Chloé : How did you determine the budget for this project?
Damien : The budget was drawn up in collaboration with Smile and Adobe, taking into account our internal experience and the specific needs of our project. Flexibility was essential, as we had to adapt to user feedback and changes to the project along the way. I particularly appreciated the responsiveness of the Smile team, which enabled us to adjust our priorities and optimise resource allocation.

Chloé : What are the first results of the e-commerce platform?
Damien : The results are very encouraging. For example, the conversion rate is higher than our initial expectations, and the average time spent by users is also very satisfactory. Internally, the site has considerably reduced order processing times, freeing up resources for other tasks. Customer feedback has also been excellent: our users appreciate the ergonomics and features, such as order tracking and advanced product searches. These features simplify the user experience and offer real added value.

Chloé : How does this project fit in with Socomore's long-term strategy?
Damien : This project is a cornerstone of our digitalisation strategy. The aim is to make our products available online to all our customers, wherever they do business. With our current platform, we have a solid, scalable base that will enable us to adapt to future needs and facilitate our geographical expansion. We want to be at the forefront of digitalisation in the B2B sector and offer a high-level user experience.

Chloé : What are the next challenges for Socomore's e-commerce platform?
Damien : In 2025, we plan to expand the range of products available online and extend our geographical reach to cover the whole of Europe. We also plan to add functionalities such as product recommendations, to better guide our customers in their choices and further improve the user experience.

Chloé : Why did you choose Smile as your partner?
Damien : We've been working with Smile for nearly five years now, and this partnership is essential for our e-commerce project. We needed a partner who understood our technical, business and strategic challenges, and Smile has recognised expertise in open source and e-commerce. We've developed a real relationship of trust, and their teams know our products and our industry inside out. Working with Smile will enable us to accelerate our digital transformation and strengthen our online positioning.

Chloé : What advice would you give to a B2B company looking to launch an e-commerce project?
Damien : Above all, it's essential to define the objectives of your project. You need to ask yourself the right questions: why launch this platform? What are your expectations in terms of performance, sales targets or productivity gains? Once these objectives have been defined, it is crucial to link them to precise performance indicators so that the results can be evaluated objectively.

It's also important to involve teams from the outset, because a project of this kind has an impact on several departments, from marketing to customer service and sales. Each team needs to understand the changes to come and be prepared to adapt its working methods.

Finally, I recommend co-constructing the budget with your partners to maintain flexibility during the course of the project. Working with external experts like Smile not only allows you to move forward calmly, but also to better ‘sell’ the project internally, by demonstrating that the resources allocated are in line with the company's strategic objectives.

Conclusion 

Through this e-commerce project, Socomore illustrates how, with the right partners and a clear strategy, an SME can transform itself to meet the demands of its market. With well-defined objectives, a co-constructed budget and an agile approach, Socomore has not only improved its customers' shopping experience, but has also equipped itself with a high-performance, scalable platform to support its long-term vision. For Damien and his teams, this success marks an important milestone in the digitalisation of Socomore and lays the foundations for even more ambitious projects in the years to come.