Germany’s largest IT system house, Bechtle is continuing to develop its bechtle.com platform with the aim of tapping into a new customer group to further bolster its E-Commerce business. With a successful pilot phase completed, the IT company is extending its offerings to companies with as few as 50 employees, which were previously not on its radar. With these new customers in mind, Bechtle is aiming to significantly expand the self-service options available on its online platform over the next few years.
“Over the last few years, our focus in the E-Commerce segment has largely been on developing international customer care, but now we are opening the door to even more potential for growth. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to offer small businesses and start-ups a tried-and-tested, well-established procurement platform for their corporate IT needs,” says Jürgen Schäfer, COO, IT E-Commerce, Bechtle AG.
From now on, a specialist team in Direct Sales will be dedicated to enabling businesses with up to 50 employees to quickly, efficiently and independently procure their IT from a German platform without personal consultation or a dedicated account manager. Alexander Schweitzer, Managing Director of Bechtle direct Germany took responsibility for this new customer group at the start of 2023: “Aligning our portfolio and the way we approach customers with this particular group has been interesting. Compared to IT purchasers working at SMEs and large corporations, those at smaller businesses are less driven by a need for personal contact and consulting opportunities, particularly when it comes to buying hardware,” explains the 41-year old.
As with its other customer segments, Bechtle’s approach will span all industries. During the over one-year pilot phase, a wide-range of businesses—from doctors’ surgeries, law firms and agencies to craft enterprises and tech start-ups—utilised the Bechtle platform for their IT procurement needs. “Our cross-industry approach has already yielded much success within our other customer segments and allows us to counterbalance fluctuations in economic activity,” says Alexander Schweitzer.
By further developing its platform, Bechtle is opening a new chapter in its long E-Commerce success story. Founded in Heilbronn 40 years ago, the IT company received its first online order in 1997 and E-Commerce business has been on an upwards trajectory ever since with segment revenue totalling close to €2 billion in the 2021 fiscal year.
