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HVAC & PVF Distributor Grows E-Commerce Share and Doubles Organic Reach in 24 Months
Summary
In just 12 months, a Canadian PVF, hydronics, and HVAC distributor tripled e-commerce transactions from 7 percent to 21 percent of total sales and doubled its organic search footprint through a full-scale digital transformation. A modernized website, SEO expansion, and targeted digital campaigns drove rapid adoption of online ordering while capturing market share from a major competitor’s branch closures. As a result, inbound lead flow surged, average order value increased, and the distributor positioned itself as a digitally enabled leader in a highly competitive market.
Challenge
Low E‑Commerce Adoption: At project kickoff, only ~7% of the client’s total transactions came through its e‑commerce portal – far below the ~10% of revenue threshold often considered “mature” for distributors’ online salesdistributionstrategy.com. The majority of contractor customers still ordered via phone or in-branch, signaling an urgent need to boost digital uptake.
Limited Search Visibility: The distributor had minimal organic search presence, with fewer than 75 keywords ranking on page 1 of Google and roughly 650 total high-intent commercial keywords in its search footprint. This low visibility meant potential new customers were not finding the company online when searching for plumbing, HVAC, or hydronic supplies.
Lagging Digital Lead Generation: Beyond walk-ins and outbound sales, the firm had little digital lead flow. Online inquiries and inbound leads were sporadic, indicating that the existing website wasn’t effectively converting traffic into actionable sales leads for the team.
Strategic Response
To address the foundational issues, the agency led a complete rebuild of the distributor’s online platform with full integration to backend systems:
New Website & Integration: Developed a modern e‑commerce website seamlessly connected to the client’s ERP and PIM systems. This ensured real-time product catalog updates and accurate pricing across thousands of SKUs. Inventory levels were tied in by location, giving buyers visibility into stock at their local branch in real time.
Account Management & Pricing: Implemented an improved online account system allowing existing B2B customers to create accounts, view custom pricing, and access purchasing privileges specific to their negotiated terms. At the same time, the site supported guest checkout with list pricing to accommodate new visitors and one-time buyers. This flexible pricing structure balanced openness for new business with personalized service for loyal contractors.
Streamlined User Experience: The new platform prioritized a fast, mobile-friendly UX suited for job-site ordering. Features like saved lists, past order history, and one-click reorders were introduced to make online purchasing as convenient as possible for busy contractors, encouraging repeat use of the digital channel.
A comprehensive digital marketing program was launched to drive both adoption by current customers and acquisition of new accounts:
Paid Search & Shopping: The agency deployed targeted pay-per-click campaigns on Google (Search and Shopping) and Microsoft Advertising (Bing). Ads were keyed to high-intent keywords (e.g. specific HVAC part numbers, “commercial water heater supply”) ensuring the distributor appeared prominently when buyers were actively searching. Critically, the team segmented campaigns to differentiate current customer vs. new customer messaging – one track promoted the benefits of online ordering to existing accounts, while another offered introductory discounts to prospects switching over from competitors.
Social Media & Display: To broaden reach, the campaign mix included LinkedIn ads targeting HVAC and plumbing contractors (by job title and company type) and Facebook/Instagram promotions highlighting the new e-commerce capabilities. These channels helped build brand awareness and retarget website visitors with reminders to sign up for an online account or download product guides.
Smart SKU Targeting: In an innovative twist, all products in the catalog were scored 1–10 by “DIY difficulty.” Only the higher-difficulty, contractor-grade products were actively advertised, ensuring marketing spend attracted professional buyers rather than one-off retail consumers. By focusing a budget on complex hydronic systems and industrial PVF supplies (and not, say, easy-to-install home fixtures), the distributor positioned itself squarely as a pro-focused supplier.
To address the organic visibility gap, a robust SEO and content initiative was executed:
Keyword Expansion: Extensive keyword research identified high-value search terms in plumbing, HVAC, and hydronics that competitors were ranking for. The team expanded the site’s SEO target list from ~650 keywords to 1,900+ keywords, focusing on transactional phrases used by contractors (e.g. “commercial boiler supplier Ontario” or specific model queries). New content hubs were built to improve relevance for these terms.
On-Page Optimization: Every product page was enhanced with richer content – detailed descriptions, technical specifications, installation guides, and application use-cases – to improve search relevance and user value. This not only helped more pages rank but also educated customers, building trust. The entire catalog became an SEO asset, capturing long-tail searches for obscure part numbers and specialty products.
Dedicated Brand & Category Pages: The website was restructured to include dedicated landing pages for major product categories and manufacturer brands. These pages served dual purposes: boosting organic rankings for broad queries like “industrial pumps distributor” and providing attractive landing content for co-op funded advertising campaigns. By featuring top brands with which the distributor had partnerships, the marketing team could also leverage co-marketing funds to promote those pages, further extending reach
Finally, the engagement focused on improving lead handling and data-driven decision making:
Inbound Lead Capture & Routing: The agency implemented an inbound lead tracking software that captured all web inquiries (contact form submissions, quote requests, e-commerce account signups) and scored them based on interest level. Leads were then automatically routed to the appropriate sales reps or branch managers based on location and product category, eliminating delays. This automation reduced friction, ensuring hot leads got a prompt follow-up instead of languishing in a general inbox.
Conversion Optimization: Continuous CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) practices were put in place on the new site. A/B tests on key pages (like the account registration page and checkout) and tweaks to page layouts were guided by analytics insights. Over the 24-month period, these optimizations incrementally improved the conversion rate of website visits to orders and leads, making each advertising dollar more effective.
Advanced Analytics Dashboards: To maintain transparency and guide ongoing strategy, the team designed custom dashboards tracking e-commerce performance and marketing attribution. These dashboards tied online revenue back to campaign sources (PPC, organic, email, social), tracked e-commerce adoption by region and by customer segment, and measured overall revenue lift. This data-driven approach allowed for agile adjustments – for example, shifting budget to the highest ROI channels and identifying which product lines were seeing the biggest uptick in online interest.
Business Impact
Within the first 12 months of this digital initiative, the wholesale distributor saw transformative results across its business:
E‑Commerce Usage Tripled: Online ordering grew from 7% of total transactions to 21% in one year. Thousands of previously offline-only customers migrated to the e-commerce platform (about 10% of the entire customer base adopted online purchasing).
Higher Customer Value: The average order value for e-commerce purchases climbed by roughly 15%, as the convenient online experience encouraged larger basket sizes and cross-selling. Additionally, the repeat online purchase rate improved ~17%, indicating stronger customer loyalty and engagement with the digital channel.
Lower Acquisition Cost & Higher Lifetime Value: By targeting digital marketing effectively, the customer acquisition cost (CAC) dropped ~45%. At the same time, the quality of new customers improved – their projected lifetime value (LTV) was about 20% higher, thanks to better targeting of serious commercial buyers and nurturing via the new lead management system.
Organic Traffic and SEO Wins: Organic search traffic to the site increased by 150%, reflecting vastly improved visibility. The count of high-intent, transactional keywords for which the company ranked grew from about 650 to over 1,900, and critically, the number of first-page Google rankings jumped from under 75 to roughly 350. These SEO gains now consistently funnel a stream of low-cost, high-converting traffic to the site.
More Leads & Better Conversion: Inbound digital lead volume surged, and the lead-to-close rate improved ~10% due to faster routing and better qualification. The sales team became notably more efficient, as they spent less time cold prospecting and more time closing warm leads coming from the website. Overall sales cycle times shrank, and sales personnel reported higher productivity by focusing on sales-ready inquiries.
Market Share Growth: The timely campaigns launched during the competitor’s branch closures paid off – the distributor captured a significant number of new accounts in those affected regions, contributing to a noticeable uptick in regional sales. By proactively seizing the moment, the company safeguarded its market position and even grew share in key markets amid the competitor’s downturn.