A marketplace launch and major expansion plan.
Client
BBQ’s galore
Location
australia
Implementation
Connected
Barbeques Galore
Growth Story
Online product range has tripled in size.
Overview
Five decades of entertaining round the flame
Founded in Silverwater, NSW, in 1977, Barbeques Galore is a familiar fixture in homemaker centres across the country. From humble beginnings in the founder’s garage, it has grown into Australia’s premier outdoor entertainment retailer, with a national network of more than 85 stores and a team of around 500 staff.
Challenges
Target audience
Catching up with friends and family for a barbeque has always been the quintessential Australian leisure activity. The Barbeques Galore customer base straddles multiple demographics, from first home owners and renters to mature Australians looking for high quality outdoor furniture, equipment and accessories.
The challenge: Turning a popular brand into a category killer
In 2019, following many years with very little change to its product offering, Barbeques Galore’s range needed to be updated and expanded. The company sought to gain a greater share of the outdoor entertainment category by refreshing its existing barbeque and outdoor furniture lines and offering additional products in complementary categories, such as gourmet condiments and small appliances.
Barbeques Galore’s ICT infrastructure and digital presence needed to be upgraded, so the company could scale up its ecommerce activities and provide a high quality omni-channel experience for customers.
Solutions
Implementing an online marketplace
In 2019, Barbeques Galore elected to replace its outdated ICT infrastructure with a modern ERP platform, digital order management system, and the Salesforce suite across ecommerce, marketing, and support. This investment provided a strong foundation for an online marketplace. The company’s leadership team recognised that implementing one would allow the company to generate more sales, by selling products from third party suppliers alongside its own range.
In June 2021, after assessing a range of software options, Barbeques Galore opted to deploy the Marketplacer cloud-based online marketplace platform owing to several key factors, including the ease of implementation, flexibility of the solution, and the strong local presence of the Marketplacer team. The implementation was completed by digital consultancy Amblique, Marketplacer’s software engineering team, and Barbeques Galore’s omni-channel team.
The Barbeques Galore product and marketing teams identified new products and partners and put agreements in place to ensure the latter would provide customers with the same high standard of product and customer service for which Barbeques Galore has always been known.
Results
Flaming marvellous! Building a bigger, better business
- Barbeques Galore’s range tripled in size without additional investment in stock, warehousing and logistics
- Customers can purchase products from 12 third party suppliers, with a number of additional suppliers being onboarded.
- The online marketplace has grown to more than 10% of Barbeques Galore’s online business within the first three months, and continues to grow rapidly
- Making incremental sales in previously untapped market segments has enabled Barbeques Galore to grow its turnover
- Data captured by the marketplace is enabling Barbeques Galore to build a richer picture of customers’ needs, wants and buying behaviours
- Market insights gleaned from the marketplace are being used to optimise the range stocked in Barbeques Galore’s bricks and mortar outlets
- Barbeques Galore is well positioned to further expand its product range.
Testimonials
“We needed to upgrade our web site and expand our range to present an even more compelling offer to our customers. Marketplacer has given us the ability and the technology to create a more complete destination for everything in the backyard. The Barbeques Galore online marketplace lets us offer customers all the things they need to make the most of Australia’s Great Outdoors lifestyle.”
We needed to upgrade our web site and expand our range to present an even more compelling offer to our customers. Marketplacer has given us the ability and the technology to create a more complete destination for everything in the backyard. The Barbeques Galore online marketplace lets us offer customers all the things they need to make the most of Australia’s Great Outdoors lifestyle.
Angus McDonald
CEO, Barbeques Galore