Franke Group are a leading global supplier of products and services for domestic kitchens, foodservice systems and the convenience store sector as well as for professional coffee making. Steven Fowler is the Business Development Manager for the projects side of the UK company, joining in 2021.
The Challenge
Franke UK identified two primary challenges which led them to start on their BIM journey. The first was that their projects included a lot of high-rise developments, which increasingly saw a requirement being put in place for BIM to be used. The second was that some of their bigger customers in the early days started to request BIM and the company realised it could lead to greater business opportunities further down the line if they moved to adopt it.
The Solution
The team at Franke UK assessed the situation and concluded that working with a specialist partner was the way forward. After comparing the available options at the time, the company concluded that Bimstore was the standout vendor. They identified that Bimstore was the most well-known platform with a large and ever-growing number of engaged users.
The Progress
One of Franke UK’s primary objectives to getting started with BIM was to trade with a specific customer who was requesting it. That objective has now been met and the customer is very satisfied with the process and the quality of the BIM content available. In the early days, the team at Franke UK appreciated that there was not a lengthy onboarding process or steep learning curve to getting underway with setting up their presence on Bimstore and utilising their BIM content.
"The greatest challenge was selecting the range of products that we were going to prioritise for creating as BIM objects. Due to the extensive range that Franke UK have in our portfolio, we really needed to be selective and strike the right balance between offering new and existing customers what they needed, but not at the expense of taking a lot more time to push our BIM content live." - Steven Fowler, Business Development Manager
The Results
The result of being able to continue working with one of their biggest customers in such a harmonious way is a massive result for Franke UK and has enabled them to continue to build their relationship together. The increase in brand awareness and exposure to the company’s BIM content has been very positive too. Since 2020, their product views on Bimstore have increased by 222%. Also in that time, one of their products – the Belfast sink – has been viewed over 14,000 times!
The Future
Franke UK are planning to include more of their teams in deciding how they utilise their BIM content. The company realises that there is an opportunity to build on their team’s existing engagement and enthusiasm for BIM and take it to another level. By maximising what they do with Bimstore and their BIM content, they see there is even more sales benefit that can be yielded.
One of the specific initiatives being considered includes increased promotion using Bimstore Marketing Services, which includes a marketing platform built into Bimstore and funded by Bimcoins. These are a digital currency and every manufacturer who works with Bimstore has an allocation to spend. The Bimcoins can be spent on a variety of promotional campaigns on the platform, including sponsoring a product in the search results or sponsoring an article in the Resources section.
To find out about how Bimstore works with manufacturers to maximise the benefits they get from their BIM content, take a look at this page. More information on Franke UK can be found on their manufacturer profile on Bimstore.
