YPO, a leading public sector procurement organisation, kicks off the start of their 50th year of public service with their Big Day, an annual event bringing together the YPO workforce to celebrate the success of the organisation and its employees.
Sagittarius has been a proud YPO partner since 2018 and, in our 5th year of this collaborative relationship, we’re honoured to be sponsoring the “Supplier of the Year (Products)” Award, which will be presented at this year’s Big Day event on Friday 8th December 2023, where some of our team have also been invited to attend.
Established in 1974, YPO was formed by local authorities to aggregate demand and generate buying efficiencies as Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation. YPO continues to be 100% publicly owned by 13 local authorities and supplies a wide range of products and services to various entities including schools, charities, emergency services, and businesses. The company boasts an impressive catalogue of approximately 30,000 products and 100 frameworks.
Their mission is to improve the procurement landscape, offering an extensive range of products and services at unbeatable prices to a variety of public sector organisations, including local governments, schools, emergency services, and more. With an unwavering commitment to serving UK communities, YPO strives to deliver the utmost value to their customers, complemented by keen customer service. The Big Day celebrates the team’s hard work towards this mission.
Every year, YPO budgets to make a small surplus which is used to develop the business, with everything else passed back to their public sector customers and member authorities for reinvestment in their services (and we think that’s certainly worth celebrating!).
YPO had been leveraging the power of the Sitecore platform since 2014, and engaged with Sagittarius initially in a supportive capacity with UX/UI, engineering & SEO in 2018. In their pursuit to deliver exceptional value to customers, YPO recognised that a fully optimised commerce experience is critical to their success.
Becoming an increasingly trusted consultancy partner, this evolved in 2020 and our Experience Design team undertook insightful customer research. This triggered a full Digital Transformation discovery project with the ambition of empowering their customers to effortlessly compare products, access personalised recommendations, easily access offers and vouchers, and ultimately enjoy a seamlessly streamlined basket-to-checkout journey.
In order to accelerate innovation in these areas, YPO and Sagittarius have adopted an agile approach to enhancing the digital customer experience through the resulting Digital Transformation strategy. Through incremental advancements to their ecommerce website, they ensure maximum value for their customers while improving operational efficiency.
Leveraging Sitecore’s Experience Platform, YPO and Sagittarius have developed a foundation e-commerce site using flexible components allowing for fast and easy content management and continuous improvement via A/B testing and CRO. Using the data captured combined with an ongoing programme of customer feedback, we have been able to deliver a number of key enhancements to transform the customer on-site experience.
This includes: CX optimisation through SOC (our dedicated Sitecore Optimisation Consultancy); the evolution of SEO strategy; personalisation & campaigns; customer data and analytics enhancements; ongoing iterative improvements to page templates and components; the implementation of on-site content & product management and search through the integration of ‘Unbxd’; a navigation overhaul; a redesigned basket and checkout process; and a redesigned customer portal (to name but a few).
These initiatives have led to a notable increase in customer satisfaction. Through a deeper understanding of customer needs and incorporating their feedback, YPO has consistently delivered solutions that significantly improve the customer experience. Our success is evident in achieving our key performance indicator, with 90% of customers rating each solution as a significant improvement during user testing.
Moreover, the utilisation of data and insights has proven to be a game-changer for YPO. By leveraging customer data and analytics, the organisation has been able to make informed business decisions, particularly regarding investments in the digitalization of their primary customer experiences. This data-driven approach has enabled YPO to allocate resources effectively, optimise processes, and tailor their offerings to better meet customer expectations. As a result, operational efficiency and effectiveness have been significantly enhanced.
Collectively, these projects have culminated in increased site visits, uplift in product views, improved conversion, increased basket values and increased lead submissions.
In addition to the expected benefits, the initiative has also brought about some unforeseen advantages. For instance, the emphasis on customer-centricity and continuous improvement has fostered a culture of innovation within the organisation. Employees have been empowered to contribute ideas, share insights, and propose solutions that further enhance the customer experience. This culture of innovation has sparked creativity and collaboration, resulting in additional improvements and efficiencies beyond the initial scope of the initiative.
David O’Brien, Digital Solutions Manager at YPO explained: “Through our close collaboration with Sagittarius, we have been able to seamlessly align our digital transformational goals and objectives. Their dedicated efforts in conducting workshops, extensive research, and leveraging data to present innovative concepts for review have proven invaluable.
Each concept not only challenges our opinions but also incorporates a data-driven approach, sparking in-depth discussions that drive us toward achieving our customer experience improvement goals. The strength of our partnership with Sagittarius lies in our shared commitment to delivering impactful developments safely. Together, we work closely to achieve excellence, ensuring maximum impact in all our work”
We’re proud to have developed this relationship over the past 5 years and wish YPO every success with their Big Day as they move into their 50th year.
Learn more about our partnership with YPO
