Mr. Bühler, the supply chain has become a real problem for German companies since the coronavirus crisis - how are you feeling this at Conrad Electronic? And what solutions have you found to deal with the situation?

We have more than 7 million product offers available on our Conrad Sourcing Platform so that business customers can cover their technical needs from a single source. Unfortunately, the situation on the procurement market is currently coming to a head. The situation in Ukraine and the various lockdowns in China are exacerbating the tense situation. As a procurement partner, we are also feeling the effects of this. The relevance of marketplaces for business customers is particularly evident in these times: Our Conrad Marketplace provides them and us with a dynamic business model that allows us to react quickly. We can make adjustments and connect new sellers within a very short space of time, something that traditional retail cannot do. It is also possible to expand the product range in a certain direction at any time, which was a big plus in times of coronavirus, for example.

What can you offer companies in the automation sector, but also in other industries, that have problems procuring relevant components for their production?

We do everything we can to maintain the best possible availability of goods for our customers with our global supply network, which has grown over decades, and with additional safety stocks. However, if an item is not available, we have been proactively offering alternatives to numerous products on conrad.de for many months. There is also the Conrad procurement service: With an excellent national and international network in the area of delivery, our team of experts takes on the time-consuming research on behalf of our business customers worldwide.

Conrad Electronic has just completed a spectacular change in strategy - away from the well-known stores and towards corporate customers as a B2B marketplace. The stores were associated with personal memories for me and I'm sure for many readers too. Why the change?

Unfortunately, the trend that private customers in particular are buying less in bricks-and-mortar stores and more online has not stopped at us. It is therefore true that we are saying goodbye to the traditional offline business for this customer group with the closure of almost all Conrad stores for private customers. However, it is not correct to speak of a recent change in strategy: Conrad founded the Business Supplies division in 1998 in order to increasingly address the B2B market. At the same time, we launched our own catalog specifically for this target group. In 2017, we then focused even more clearly on B2B with the launch of the Conrad Marketplace. It was clear to us from the outset that this marketplace would be aimed exclusively at business customers. Today, it is an integral part of the Conrad Sourcing Platform. Developing this into Europe's leading procurement platform for technical requirements was and is the next logical step.

What makes a B2B marketplace for you?

It is crucial for a B2B marketplace to provide a range that is both broad and deep. Before the launch of our marketplace, we had around 800,000 items online at conrad.de. Five years later, we already have over 7 million products on offer from more than 650 manufacturers and distributors who sell their goods via our marketplace. In addition to the extensive selection, product quality plays an important role. That's why Conrad opted for a curated marketplace model from the outset, to which only certified manufacturers and distributors are admitted. This means that not just any seller can connect. Instead, the product range must match the area of technical requirements we have defined and meet clearly defined criteria. And, of course, internationalization is also a big issue: Conrad is currently already active in Austria with its own marketplace, with other countries to follow. Thinking further, this means offering cross-border procurement across Europe and beyond national borders via the Conrad Sourcing Platform.

Before this change, you must have dealt intensively with the wishes of your customers. What have you learned?

That is true. We regularly conduct customer surveys and our field and office teams are in constant contact with our customers. This brings me to an important point: simplifying procurement processes is of course a key issue for all companies in order to save time and money in purchasing. And as a digital pioneer, which Conrad has always been, we want to be a problem solver for our customers in this area in particular and actively support them in the digitalization of their procurement. However, we also frequently receive feedback on how much our business customers appreciate having personal contact persons in Key Account Management and Inside Sales. Despite all our digital achievements, the human factor continues to play a central role for us. In Hürth in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, we opened our first Conrad Profistore in early summer 2020 and are currently looking for further locations to optimally complement the Conrad Sourcing Platform with this presence in the offline world.

What do companies want in terms of modern procurement? Where is the trend heading?

The trend is clearly moving towards e-procurement and this is precisely where we offer our customers real added value with smart solutions. The aim is to automate processes in order to streamline procurement and save costs. We are dynamically expanding this area and now have e-procurement solutions for companies of all sizes in our portfolio: Our free and browser-based tool Conrad Smart Procure is perfect for smaller companies. Larger companies with their own ERP system can connect dynamically to the Conrad Sourcing Platform via OCI/PunchOut or use eCatalogs via API as a static solution. On top of this, we offer special services. One example of this is our single creditor solution, with which companies no longer have to manage countless different invoice issuers when purchasing on our platform, but instead receive all invoices directly from Conrad.

Who is your target group in the industry? The big players? The SMEs? How do you want to meet their very different needs?

Whether maintenance and repair, plant automation or research and development: we are broadly positioned in terms of both our product range and our services and can therefore support small companies, SMEs and industrial groups in comprehensively covering their technical needs. With almost 100 years of company history and almost 25 years of B2B experience behind us, we know what is actually needed in industry and manufacturing to cover day-to-day technical requirements and offer corresponding procurement solutions and tailored product services. These include an industrial-quality 3D printing service and a calibration service for professional measurement applications.

Let's take a look at the technical side. What do customers tend to order: components for upgrading and networking older systems - i.e. retrofitting or completely new system technology? Can trends be identified here?

Our customers buy material for the maintenance and modernization or expansion of their systems as well as components to network them. The trend is clearly towards fully networked systems, as otherwise no data can be recorded and therefore neither evaluated nor optimized. Our team is currently at the all about automation trade fair. This shows that our customer base is very interested in cobots. In addition to the robotic arm from Igus, we also presented Franka Emika live at our stand, which is part of the new generation of cobots and will soon be available in the Conrad range. Further cooperations in this area are being planned so that we can comprehensively meet the demand for easy-to-implement and affordable robot solutions for automated production with this range.

What role does artificial intelligence play for your customers - both in terms of the use of AI in their own procurement processes and for components that are ordered for plant construction?

AI is becoming increasingly important. In procurement, as already described, e-procurement is on the rise in order to make work processes more efficient. AI is also rapidly gaining in importance in plant engineering, as the interrelationships in modern production facilities are becoming increasingly complex. Here, machine learning ensures rapid analysis and optimization. The large volumes of data in particular can no longer be handled any other way. The components must therefore be able to communicate intelligently with each other. In some cases, the data is already processed on the components themselves and analyzed using machine learning. This reduces data traffic and significantly shortens response times.

What are your own experiences at Conrad Electronic: Do you use AI yourself? Perhaps also in intralogistics?

Of course, machine learning is also used in our company to optimize processes: The self-learning algorithms are able to understand emails and forward them to the relevant person, enter fax orders that still exist in the system or identify attempted fraud in the online store. An algorithm developed by us can even calculate whether a product is perceived as professional or not. We also use machine learning to automatically determine alternative products when desired goods are no longer available. In short, AI enables us to process huge and complex volumes of data in real time and correlate them correctly. And AI is a complementary tool that enables us to understand our customers' behavior even better and provide them with tailor-made offers.