At Johnson Controls, B2B ecommerce is bringing a blast of fresh air to the building control systems manufacturer’s sales of residential HVAC systems to installation contractors.

The manufacturer is expanding its network of company-owned physical stores to engage customers of its York HVAC systems in local U.S. markets underserved by third-party distributors, and each new physical store has a dedicated B2B e-store at YORKnow.com with content customizable to local market demand.

Janet Englehart, ecommerce director, Johnson Controls

The multichannel expansion program has led to double-digit annual increases of about 20% or more in U.S. digital HVAC sales, as contractors use their local market version of Johnson Controls’ YORK Factory Direct platform YORKnow.com to find and order the HVAC products and parts they need for job sites, says Janet Englehart, Johnson Controls’ director of ecommerce for ducted systems. She adds that digital sales account for about 25% of Johnson Controls’ YORK Factory Direct total HVAC sales.

The YORKnow.com website runs on the Adobe Commerce software technology platform in a headless commerce configuration, which allows for more customization for each local market site, Englehart says. Johnson Controls works with Valtech, a global digital agency, to deploy and customize its ecommerce platform.

Janet Englehart will speak on B2B ecommerce growth strategy at the EnvisionB2B Forum on Sept. 12 in Chicago.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].

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