Delivering Enterprise-Level eCommerce with a Mobile-First Shopping Experience: Zobrist Software Group

“Mobiecom is a pre-built eCommerce solution with hundreds of features to launch your B2B business within six weeks.”

Zobrist Software Group is a leading e-Commerce systems integrator and software provider for large enterprise B2B and B2C commerce solutions, including IBM WebSphere Commerce and Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Working with recognizable clients such as Vans, The North Face, Mazda, and 3M, the company has built conversion-oriented e-commerce storefronts using popular platforms, including HCL Commerce (formerly IBM Websphere Commerce), Adobe Magento, Salesforce Commerce, and many more.

Zobrist Software operates worldwide.

Teresa Zobrist (CEO) spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. When it comes to longevity, Zobrist Software Group has it. I find it unique that an organization has what it takes to continue to offer outstanding web solutions, etc., for over two decades. My question to you is, how did the company continue to adapt?

In January, we celebrated the company’s twentieth anniversary in a tranquil way as we continue to be very cautious with everyone’s health and safety. It was a very special zoom call and emotional as we recalled how we started the company twenty years ago and how we kept reinventing ourselves to deliver value to our customers. I believe that our core values are the common thread that binds us together and motivates us every day: respect and fairness for all, commitment to excellence, willingness to learn and grow, and being trustworthy and authentic. It has been a challenging two decades but when you have such good people around you, it’s no longer work, it’s fun. I challenge my employees on a daily basis on what we can do better today than yesterday.

Q. What can you tell us about your Mobiecom solution?

Nobody likes a slow site. Mobiecom is designed to be the answer to slow website times. Mobiecom is a lightweight Single Page Application (SPA) that loads data on demand and caches it on your device, so it’s always at your fingertips. Older generation websites lag due to the transfer of hundreds of pages back and forth from server to client when the user clicks on a product or a link to navigate the site. In contrast, Mobiecom transfers minute data immediately cached upon arrival and stays resident, resulting in quicker processing time.

Mobiecom has the following six characteristics:

A Turn-Key B2B eCommerce Channel Ready for Business: Mobiecom is a pre-built eCommerce solution with hundreds of features to launch your B2B business within six weeks. This winning strategy allows companies to go from concept to delivery lightning-quick and immediately generate revenue with minimum training for the sales reps.

Best User Experience: B2B buyers will be delighted with simple site navigation and a dynamic electronic catalog capable of hosting hundreds of thousands of products. Best of all, the website will be personalized with each buyer’s recommendations tailored to their shopping history.

Fast Loading Time: An impressive two-second loading speed per page guarantees longer customer engagement time on the website and drives higher conversion rates. This level of performance is achieved consistently across all devices and on both static and dynamic pages.

Mobile-First Design: Your eCommerce channel will be designed with mobile interfaces in mind, and every page will be visually pleasing on every platform. Your website runs as a single application that operates seamlessly on any device.

Integrated Search Engine: A search engine is a vital part of any website, especially when it can self-index and self-tune when adding products. Other critical capabilities include site filters so buyers can easily browse, search, and look for product comparisons and the ability to use plain English in a Natural Language Search (NLS) instead of having to memorize part numbers or specific keywords.

SEO Optimized: SEO optimization is made easy with tools to update the site with keywords and fresh content to stay ranked high. A Page Composer tool also allows marketers and content providers to set up pages to drive engagement to specific promotions or product launches.

Q. In what industries are your clients? Can you provide us with one or two success stories describing the challenges your clients faced and how your solutions helped them overcome those challenges?

We have fairly large clients in the retail, manufacturing, and distribution industries. Some are fantastic brands, such as The North Face, Vans, and Timberland. Some are large enterprises such as Mazda and 3M. I would love to share a couple of examples where we deployed Mobiecom as an end-to-end solution and an instance where we injected Mobiecom as a partial solution.

The Bishop Company: The Bishop Company is a leading distributor of top-quality tools and equipment for professional arborists and landscapers. The company launched original eCommerce site in 2001, but when faced with an ever more competitive environment, it needed a mobile-responsive site with fast-loading speed. The Bishop Company implemented Mobiecom as an end-to-end solution.

The dramatic increase in sales and shift in buying patterns were immediately noticeable. With 173% ROI, a 1206% increase in mobile users, and an outstanding conversion rate of 3.86%, The Bishop Company could not be more delighted.

“Our buyers’ shopping patterns have changed,” says Keith McCormick, president of The Bishop Company.

“Our buyers are typically arborists, landscape designers, and gardeners, so they are constantly out in the field. Before our site was mobile optimized, many had to wait until the evening to shop. Now, we’re seeing purchases made during the daytime, right from their mobile devices!”

3M Oral Care: Remote support and selling became a priority when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Like many operations, 3M Oral Care—a division of 3M Healthcare—needed a quick and easy solution to bring their 10-year-old website up to date. Using Mobiecom’s platform, 3M was able to revamp and enhance its visual brand identity, as well as streamline its internal search functionality to return results from shopping and corporate market catalogs. This led to some impressive results: 30% speed improvement on its home page, product listing, and product detail pages, on top of a 20% improvement overall on the site. The direct positive impacts also enabled them to move forward with a worldwide launch of shoportho.3m.com.

Q. Where does Zobrist Software Group stand at the moment? And what does it strive to achieve next?

We have a new go-to-market strategy that will bring us to a whole new level playing field. We have recently partnered with Red Hat to deliver Mobiecom on Red Hat OpenShift on any cloud. During the pandemic, we will still be restricted in our travel. B2B companies are embracing digital commerce in order to grow and looking for an ecommerce turn-key solution. Together with Red Hat, we have a complete package of cloud infrastructure, DevOps, scalability, security, and ecommerce functionality.

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver high-performing Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers standardize across environments, develop cloud-native applications, and integrate, automate, secure, and manage complex environments with award-winning support, training, and consulting services.

For more information, please visit https://www.zobristinc.com/

“Mobiecom is designed to be the answer to slow websites. It is a lightweight Single Page Application (SPA) that loads data on demand and caches it on your device, so it’s always at your fingertips.”