Client Portfolio
Partial Client List		Emerge2 Case Studies

Electronic Commerce Case Studies
Braun’s Online, Hammond Manufacturing

Braun’s Online

The company
Braun’s Bicycle & Fitness has been a fixture in downtown Kitchener, Ontario, for over 80 years, and is by all accounts a small retailer, providing employment for about 25 people during the summer. In the time they have been in business, they have become well known as a quality retailer of bicycles, accessories and fitness products, all the while serving their customers with respect and integrity.

The challenge
As early as 1995, Braun’s approached us with a very novel concept at the time: they wanted to sell their products over the Internet, and see online sales become a significant portion of their overall revenues. In addition, they wanted to test out a new vehicle for marketing their products, extending their brand and communicating with their customers.

The solution
At the time, there were very few electronic software platforms available to use, so we did what any enterprising young Internet company would do: we wrote our own! Over the years, this customized application became Galileo Commerce, and Braun’s uses it very successfully to sell products to a global marketplace. And sell they have. In the fourth quarter of 1999, sales from Braun’s Online accounted for 25% of the entire revenue stream of Braun’s Bicycle, and sales continue to grow.

Braun’s Online has been the focus of an Industry Canada case study, a recent article in the Globe & Mail, along with many articles and references in local media.

Services provided
Galileo Commerce (e-commerce software)
Web site design
Application development
Application hosting

Hammond Manufacturing

The company
Hammond Manufacturing is a leading supplier of transformers and enclosures for the electrical and electronic industries, and has been in business since 1917. Publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE: HMM.A), Hammond has 11 plants and over 1,200 employees located in Canada and the United States.

The challenge
Responding to the requirements of their U.S. customers, Hammond set out to develop an Internet-based procurement system for their electrical enclosure products. This system needed to be flexible enough to support some of their specialized procedures (for example, support for large shipments not supported by standard couriers), and that could be maintained by in-house resources at Hammond.

Future growth was an important consideration as well, as the web site needed to have the capabilities to be expanded and customized as growth requires, and to integrate with Hammond’s in-house inventory and order entry systems in the future.

The solution
Using the Business to Business features of Galileo Commerce, we worked with Hammond to launch www.hammonddirect.com, a site that immediately began generating sales upon launch. Existing B2B customers have access to the site, while new customers register for a new account immediately online.

The site features a conservative interface, but keeps navigation simple and provides customers with many opportunities to find products. To keep on top of things, Hammond is able to use GC Administrator to maintain online inventories and track sales, and in-house marketing staff can easily edit the content of the site.

Services provided
Galileo Commerce (e-commerce software)
Web site design
Application development
Application hosting

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