Recently, I checked in with our friends at O’Neal Steel to see how they are weathering the current market. Their response was so great I thought I’d share their feedback from their technology team.
"PRONTO acts like an inside sales rep for us. It gives you easy access when it’s convenient for our customers — anytime, anywhere."
We have more great details about the app's performance below, but first, a brief background on the project.
In 2019, Airship partnered with O'Neal Steel to design and build a mobile app as an extension of their existing solution used to purchase metal online. They needed a solution that would handle quotes, place order, show order history, and allow users to pay and track orders. It was important for the e-commerce solution to provide an enhanced user experience and flow seamlessly and accurately.
"We've been able to beat revised revenue forecast by about 50%."
O'Neal Steel Sales Team
Their existing web platform wasn't meeting all of their customers' current needs. In addition to wanting to solve their present functionality issues, their team had the vision to look ahead, research, and invest in a solution that would solve their customers' potential needs and desire for convenience.
The solution was creating a custom mobile app, PRONTO, while also increasing the web platform's capabilities, all with the customer experience in mind.
Here are a few more details they shared with our team about how their custom mobile app is performing today:
- They have seen many customers migrate over to Pronto Mobile that were not traditional users.
- They have been able to beat revised revenue forecast.
- They were planning for a large decrease in business, but instead ended up beating projected forecast by about 50%.
This huge win for them is largely attributed to having the Pronto mobile and web app. As a result of this investment, they are taking market share away from competitors who do not have a web or mobile e-commerce platform. This allows their customers to get quotes and place orders quickly without waiting to speak to a representative and using technology they're already familiar with (their mobile phones!).
Some additional features that were rolled out to their custom mobile app:
- Digital credit app experience to optimize the process
- Bulk product discount display to show customers where quantity price breaks were
- The ability to pay invoices through the app
O’Neal Steel is a great example of what other companies in the manufacturing, distribution, and construction-related verticals will have to do in order to stay relevant (and survive) in the future - invest in solutions their team and customers will love.
Their forward-thinking mentality and investment in technology are deeply ingrained in the DNA of the organization. “We know using the app will help make our customers’ jobs easier with immediate access to our inventory and other important documents anytime, anywhere,” said Alfred Goings, senior manager of digital commerce, to Metal Center News.
Beyond the sales numbers, a look at the reviews (5 stars!) from customers so far on the App Store: "Real time price and lead time and can place steel orders within seconds!"
In my opinion, this investment has secured them as the 800-pound Gorilla to beat in the steel business.
You can find the PRONTO mobile app in the App Store for iOS devices and on Google Play.
