MMK Online Marketplace Awarded in Prestigious IT Competition
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works’ online trading platform received top honours at Global CIO’s 11th Project of the Year competition. The MMK marketplace became the winner in the category “Best Industry Solution” in the “Metallurgy / Continuous Production / Mining Industry” segment.
Commenting on the outcome of the competition, Grigory Shchurov, Director of MMK Trading House, said: “The e-commerce market is developing rapidly alongside the expansion of digital communication channels. And, in this context, the steelmaking industry is keeping pace: it’s clear that consumer habits are changing, and manufacturers need to change along with them. That’s why we decided some time ago to develop an online platform from scratch in order to present the products offered by MMK, MMK Trading House and MMK-METIZ, and to allow other metal producers to join the platform as well. As a result, MMK’s marketplace enables customers to buy products made by MMK Group companies and our partners directly, without intermediaries, at wholesale prices, in a convenient format and with just a few clicks. At the same time, orders can be placed for, for example, both a box of nails and for large product volumes.”
The trading platform’s catalogue is structured in a way that highlights key product features and presents items in a user-friendly hierarchy. The catalogue’s search function provides dynamic prompts based on the information contained on each product’s flypage. The marketplace further facilitates the customer experience by filtering content based on the user’s location, as well as using thoroughly tested scenarios for purchasing items sold in measurement units and sales scenarios that take into account a product’s dimensions and weight.
Another key feature of MMK’s trading platform is the flexibility of user accounts. Customers can register as an individual or a legal entity. If they choose the latter, access to the account can be set up for several people at once. Each user’s personal account includes an order history as well as separate sections on special offers, certificates of quality (for each item, a certificate is displayed either for an entire batch or for a single item) and other topics.
MMK marketplace customers can take advantage of several fast-order scenarios and choose from a number of delivery options depending on the warehouse and the product type, with the cost calculated automatically for each option. Retail customers can pay by bank card or by invoice; legal entities can also make purchases on credit using financial instruments offered by marketplace partners.
Thanks to the online trading platform, MMK has shortened the distance between the producer and the end user as well as increasing its share of online purchases, automating sales and raising awareness of MMK Group companies.
“A major indicator of the quality and convenience of MMK’s marketplace is the twofold increase in product sales in 2022 compared with the previous year. Our constant improvements aimed at making the platform more convenient, enhancing customer appeal and expanding user functionality will attract new customers and increase the volume of online sales,” said Grigory Shchurov.
The Project of the Year competition – which aims to consolidate knowledge about best practices in IT and digital transformation – is organised by the Global CIO professional community of digital transformation leaders. Winners are selected across several categories each year by IT industry professionals. In 2022, MMK’s digital support office for the supply of scrap metal became the winner in the “Best RPA Solution in Metallurgy” category.
MMK’s marketplace was also a winner in the “Best Internet Project among Metallurgical and Metal Trading Companies in Russia and the CIS” competition organised by the leading industry magazine Metal Supply and Sales, where it took the top spot in the “Mobility” and “E-commerce” categories.