How BAS World transformed:

From merchant to platform with 70% online transactions

A showroom, its own hotel and depots in Dortmund and Madrid. But there’s more: digital clout. BAS World, active worldwide in the sale of trucks, commercial vehicles and machinery, has it all. In less than five years, the Veghel-based company managed to double its transaction volume to fifteen thousand, 70 percent of them online. How? By sticking its neck out with a platform strategy in a traditional B2B market.

"We are the transaction platform in the industry. We don't sell ads, we sell products we know everything about."

How BAS World transformed:

From merchant to platform with 70% online transactions

"We are the transaction platform in the industry. We don't sell ads, we sell products we know everything about."

How BAS World transformed:

From merchant to platform with 70% online transactions

"We are the transaction platform in the industry. We don't sell ads, we sell products we know everything about."

How BAS World transformed:

From merchant to platform with 70% online transactions

"We are the transaction platform in the industry. We don't sell ads, we sell products we know everything about."

How BAS World transformed:

From merchant to platform with 70% online transactions

"We are the transaction platform in the industry. We don't sell ads, we sell products we know everything about."

With our depots, we connect global reach with local trust."

Speaking is Casper Brus, who started work as e-commerce manager at BAS World in late 2022. Meanwhile, he is also responsible for marketing at the company. About his daily work, he says: "The task of our team is to ensure that we are the expert in matching supply and demand internationally, that we know how to find the right buyer for every product worldwide. For that, people need to know who BAS World is, what we all do and why we are good at it. Then you're talking about brand and findability."

Brus stepped in because of BAS World's stated digital ambitions, unique in the industry he says, "I wanted to build a platform, not a merchant. We are changing the market here."

Basworld.com
BAS World's current business units were still separate trading companies five years ago, Brus says: "You had BAS Trucks, BAS Vans and BAS Machinery, together they did seven to eight thousand transactions a year. The market was very large, but also very fragmented. Then we decided to rebrand and continue with one brand. We opened Basworld.com as the transaction platform in the industry."

It is the first and only platform of its kind, according to Brus. About the pioneering work, the Marketing and E-commerce Manager says, "Advertising portals are the norm in this industry. But we are in the lead on transactions, also know all about the products. We combine a wide range of expertise with international reach: we operate in 180 countries, offer customer service in 18 languages and we know all about documents and import restrictions," he lists. "The focus is on sales to global end customers. Therefore, everything revolves around buying convenience, with unique services such as shipping, logistics, financing, service, optical customization et cetera. We take care of everything from A to Z, from pricing advice to lead generation and from inspection to delivery."

New propositions for scalable growth
With the digital platform came new business models, Brus continues, and with them the scalable growth BAS World was aiming for. "Initially, we purchased everything ourselves. That means you also have to finance everything, bring it here and make it ready for sale. That takes a lot of time and space. We looked for parking space in Veghel and far beyond to get rid of our inventory, 250,000 square feet in total. But there are limits. Especially when you consider that we want to grow to 75,000 transactions a year. And so we started setting it up differently, with new propositions."

quote wwv We developed new propositions for scalability."

Procurement, consignment and an auction model
In addition to purchasing, the company also facilitates consignment, where the seller retains ownership until BAS World has sold the trucks, commercial vehicles or machinery. This can be done both from Veghel and directly from sellers' own locations. In addition, an online auction model has been set up, for which thousands of bidders with accounts are registered. Brus: "On the auction are mainly traders, so sellers do not have to go through them individually. But they can also just sell to us at a trade price, then they have immediate money. If they have more patience, then they can go for the market price. It just depends on where their needs lie."

Gaining trust online
Supply is very important, but BAS World's primary focus is on the demand side. "We want to be the starting point for buyers in our industry, that's the first goal. For our company, we have defined three core values for that: trust, ease and expertise." The company gains trust mainly through transparency, Brus continues, what you see is what you get: "We share everything we know and we show everything, no catches with us. It is better to prevent problems in advance than to solve them afterwards. We also call our inspection department the eyes of the customer. We take at least thirty photos of each product, as well as videos, for example to show the sound of a vehicle. For many products, customers see more online than if they were to come to Veghel. Incidentally, there are big differences between buyers in different markets."

quote wwv We take at least thirty photos of each product."

Mini-Veghels
Eastern Europeans, for example, are less digitally mature and familiar; they more often want to see first and then believe. BAS World picks them up from the airport, shows them around the BAS Store with over three thousand vehicles and machines, and after a possible visit to the workshop, accommodates them if desired in the BAS World Hotel two hundred meters from the showroom. Brus: "We are growing primarily online, but 30 percent of transactions still take place in the physical environment. We have the store in Veghel for that, with at least fifty international customers every day. We are currently working on opening international depots in addition. We already have one in Dortmund, as of February one in Madrid and another one is coming up in Austria. They are places to meet BAS World, with a number of products and, for example, a workshop. Mini-Veghels, we call it. We connect global reach to local trust."

We are changing the market here."

AI at BAS World
Last year, BAS World rigged up an AI team that is looking across all areas of the family-owned business to see where the technology can add value. Says Brus, "On that team, engineers and data scientists are working on various applications, from content marketing to workplace improvements. We're carefully looking at whether and how we can add AI to the customer journey. This industry is pretty conservative, I should add. On the other hand, we want to stay ahead, take the customer by the hand rather than the other way around."

BAS World is confidently taking the digital lead in a traditional industry. "We have a hundred IT professionals here who build a cloud-native, service-oriented platform every day. Modular, scalable and future-proof, for ourselves but especially for the customer."

Truck in the checkout
Brus continues: "We were the first to have a website, the first to show prices on it and the first to offer an online checkout where customers can instantly purchase a truck. Sometimes we do things to educate the customer a little bit. "Leading the change in global trade, by making it easy and safe," is the purpose here on the wall of the cafeteria. We all get out of bed in the morning for that. I think it's really cool to work on that."

BAS World x Webwinkel Vakdagen

At Webwinkel Vakdagen, Brus will speak at length about digital transformation in the conservative B2B market that BAS World serves: "If it succeeds in our industry, it succeeds everywhere."

Casper Brus, e-commerce manager of BAS World, will give a presentation at Webwinkel Vakdagen on Thursday, March 26, 12.00 PM.

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