How Schäfer Shop grows sales by 11% with Acto

Schäfer Shop Group GmbH & Co. KG, headquartered in Betzdorf, has been a leading B2B multichannel retailer for office, warehouse, and operational equipment in Europe since its founding in 1975.

With a product range of over 100,000 items, Schäfer Shop offers comprehensive solutions for efficient working. The portfolio covers everything from ergonomic office furniture and office technology to warehouse and operational equipment. Schäfer Shop emphasizes customized consulting and space planning.

The company operates internationally with subsidiaries in 14 European countries. It serves customers through various channels including the online shop, catalogs, telephone, and field sales. Schäfer Shop also focuses on advancing B2B e-commerce development, including through the establishment of Schäfer Shop Digital to promote technological advancement.

Data chaos slows down sales

‍Schäfer Shop, one of the leading providers of office and industrial supplies with decades of market experience, faced a familiar challenge: thousands of customer records scattered across multiple systems—hard to access and nearly impossible to use in daily sales operations.

Sales teams spent countless hours searching for relevant information just to identify opportunities and prepare for customer conversations. Existing reports delivered numbers, but not actionable insights—making them of little value in day-to-day business.

The result: valuable cross- and upselling opportunities were often missed, while too much time was wasted wrestling with spreadsheets.

Daily priorities instead of data overload

‍The goal of introducing Acto was clear: create a single, central platform that brings together all relevant data from ERP, CRM, and beyond—delivering smart, actionable insights to sales teams at the push of a button.

Seamless pilot, rapid rollout

‍Connecting Acto was quick and secure via an SFTP server. Customer data from ERP and CRM systems flowed automatically and in real time into Acto—no manual effort, no broken processes.

The journey began with a pilot phase to test the impact and measure how well the sales teams adopted the tool. Very quickly, Acto became an everyday companion for sales reps and the go-to hub for planning their tasks.

Positive feedback and clear results led to a fast expansion across the entire sales organization—both inside and field sales.

"I start every day with a prioritized list of highly relevant signals—from revenue declines to cross-sell opportunities. It saves me countless hours of research that I can now spend with customers and on targeted selling."
- Fabian Wolff, Area Sales Manager