Begin Bound + ANDMORE: Streamlining Operations with HubSpot & Microsoft Dynamics

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BeginCast: ANDMORE, Unifying Systems and Data for a Brand Transformation
5:03

500K+ Contacts

Merged

6 Complex

Custom Objects

4 Platforms Integrated

migrated into 1 New Portal with Microsoft Dynamics.

9 Different Domains

Accommodated & Merged

5 Private Apps

Developed and Created

"A huge shoutout to the BeginBound team (Jesse, Gabe, and Simon) for their hard work on design, development, and bringing our vision to life!"

MERRITT DISMUKE

INTRODUCTION:

Between 2020 and 2025, International Market Centers, LLC, evolved from a traditional showroom operator into ANDMORE, a leading omnichannel wholesale marketmaker. The period was defined by digital innovation, strategic acquisitions, and a rebranding effort that aligned with global B2B market trends. ANDMORE’s focus on connecting buyers and sellers through both physical and digital platforms positions it well for continued dominance in the furniture, home décor, gift, and apparel industries.

As the world’s largest owner and operator of premier showroom space for furniture, gift, home décor, rug, and apparel industries, ANDMORE represents over 20 million square feet across Atlanta, High Point, Las Vegas, and later New York City.


THE PARTNERSHIP:

As BeginBound was the existing partner firm for Juniper, which was under the IMC brand (link to case study), IMC decided to continue and expand their partnership with BeginBound to assist IMC with their brand transition to ANDMORE, which included decommissioning certain legacy HubSpot Portals and merging them into new HubSpot portals that also integrated and synced with Microsoft Dynamics. This project consisted of a multi-disciplinary approach that combined CRM & API technical sophistication, detailed project management and communication, as well as design and front-end development support for brand marketing consistency.

 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT, COMMUNICATION & PLANNING

  • Discussions with key stakeholders to define project parameters, assess resource needs, and establish a project timeline.
  • Integration in Atlassian and current JIRA operations internally so our team coil successfully liaison with both IMC Marketing and IT employees to support the project.
  • We acted as a communication bridge between IMC's marketing team and their IT department, particularly concerning integration projects like Microsoft Dynamics. This ensured that technical aspects were clearly communicated and understood by all parties involved.
  • The major concerns for scoping were custom entities, 3rd party connections, data flow & maintenance, and data import planning to the Buyer portal to ensure smooth population and leverage of the system without much cleanup.
  • BeginBound’s novel approach to partnering with clients allowed our existing retainer to be reprioritized, reallocated and budgeted to meet the new needs of IMC and this project.
  • Ensured alignment between the project scope and the existing retainer budget, confirming that there were sufficient hours allocated to meet both IMC's needs and budget requirements for several months throughout 2023.
  • Assisted in providing detailed documentation throughout the integration project, including progress reports, timelines, and technical specifications. This ensures transparency and accountability throughout the project lifecycle.
ANDMORE-HighpointHomepageDesignmock
ANDMORE-SimpleEmailDesign-Mock-up

DATA INTEGRATION, MIGRATION & MANAGEMENT

  • Assisted all teams with ensuring data cleanliness, data migration, and proper data mapping within the new system. We focused on preserving existing data cleanup and processes that have been done for Sales and Customer Success in HubSpot, while also accommodating new data objects and information coming from the other HubSpot CRM Portal that was to be decommissioned.
  • Dynamics to HubSpot Consultation: Advising and strategizing on potential challenges associated with integrating Microsoft Dynamics, such as ensuring data flows smoothly between systems and avoiding data discrepancies.
  • CRM Property Management: Reviewing, Updating and/or creating new CRM properties in HubSpot destination portal to accommodate the new API data that would be syncing from Microsoft Dynamics to HubSpot.
  • API Rate Limit Challenges: API Rate Limits within HubSpot created several challenges, particularly with the Search API Rate Limit of 4 requests per second. Documentation did not highlight this for the average user, and HubSpot upgrades left this provision out which few knew at the time. Our team was able to surface this issue and assist the IT Team at IMC to work around it utilizing a novel approach of multiple Private Apps in concert with one another to get around HubSpot limitations.
  • Data Importing: Support of several thousands of contacts, accounts and general lists from the decommissioned HubSpot Portal into the new Buyers HubSpot Portal.
  • Missing Data Resolution: Several Company Records were missing ket internal identifier information that would be required in the new HubSpot Portal Merger to maintain records between HubSpot and Dynamics. Our team worked up a novel solution combining reporting, Excel Formulas and HubSpot Importing Expertise to backfill the missing data.

DIGITAL MARKETING SUPPORT

  • Client Transition: International Market Centers (IMC) transitioned to ANDMORE, and this project involved updating branding and systems accordingly.
  • Front-End Development: This included setting up templates (at least one per domain, with 9 domains total), custom properties for tokens, and workflow automations with logic. Front-end development, training for marketing teams, onboarding, aesthetic/design concerns, sending emails, unsubscribe opt-outs, and marketing automation were planned for Phase 2, likely in March 2023.
  • Un-engaged Emails: Discussion around segmenting by channel and an evergreen deployment if segmentation isn't possible, with visual branding of show brands.
  • Re-subscribe Emails: Priority was to create a re-subscribe form for buyer services, Leasing, and TRMs to personally send to contacts, followed by an email blast segmented by brand. A simple re-subscription email for ANDMORE Buyers was created and activated in November 2023, designed to be simplistic and prompt users to update preferences that would be appropriate brand realignment.
  • Website Retargeting Emails: A test was proposed for a limited time (1 week) on the Exhibitor Directory page, with restrictions to avoid collision with traditional sends and limits to one send. Content for these emails was suggested to be general and include product spotlights or calls to action like "still need to register?".
  • Marketing Contact Data & Billing Discount Support: HubSpot charges in increments for Marketing Contacts that became a challenge with the merger. Our team identified the problem, worked around it to maintain budgeting and then negotiated preferred pricing on their behalf with HubSpot for an unavoidable upgrade.

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