For manufacturer and distributor Nippon Sanso Matheson, digital transformation meant unifying three commerce platforms and a manual enterprise resource planning (ERP) system into one as a way to improve sales and engagement.
Nippon Sanso Matheson is a global industrial, medical and specialty gas manufacturer and distributor. Brian Smith, chief digital officer, explained how the manufacturer’s new system helped to automate workflows and build the foundation for more efficient sales.
Smith spoke in a session on enhancing B2B ecommerce at Salesforce Connections 2026 on June 3 in Chicago. There, he discussed his company’s approach with Marc Chappron, director, retail industry advisor at Salesforce.
Brian Smith (left), chief digital officer at Nippon Sanso Matheson, and Marc Chappron, director, retail industry advisor at Salesforce, discuss digital transformation at Connections 2026 in Chicago. | Image credit: Abbas Haleem, Digital Commerce 360
Nippon Sanso purchased a stake in Matheson Gas Products in 1983 before acquiring the remainder in 1989. Matheson rebranded to Nippon Sanso Matheson in 2026.
In North America, more than 70 of the Top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2025, those online retailers combined for more than $192.60 billion in web sales. The Top 2000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales.
Steps to Nippon Sanso Matheson’s digital transformation
In his chief digital role, Smith oversees digital transformation at Nippon Sanso Matheson. He said at the session that the company hired him “to go after ecommerce and get that firing properly.”
He also said he came in to transform the company digitally and develop a new tech stack. The company had to change but didn’t have the capabilities, he said. It didn’t have an ecommerce presence but had some modular, siloed data and technology, according to Smith.
Smith discussed three stages of Nippon Sanso Matheson’s digital transformation:
- Identifying the hidden costs of managing disconnected commerce systems and siloed product data.
- Reviewing a proven roadmap for consolidating legacy platforms into a single technology stack.
- Discovering how unified data enables AI, which enables more efficient campaign execution and predictive customer engagement.
He helped move Nippon Sanso Matheson to a single integrated platform. Smith spoke to the benefits of “having something that’s largely based on the same code base and with minimal handoffs.”
It reduces complexity, minimizes integration risks and enables scalability, he said. That, in turn, makes it easier for Nippon Sanso Matheson to focus on innovation and meeting evolving customer needs.
How Nippon Sanso Matheson is using Salesforce technology
Now, Nippon Sanso Matheson is using Salesforce’s ecosystem, including MuleSoft, Data Cloud and AI-driven tools.
Integrating those tools empowers businesses like Smith’s to standardize and trust the data they use. That can help to lay the foundation for hyper-personalization.
Smith spoke about how AI is helping Nippon Sanso Matheson to streamline operations, from dynamic A/B testing to improving customer service with AI agents. He referred to AI as a meaningful factor in the company achieving scalability and as part of its transformation.
Chappron said in the session that some brands don’t want AI agents to talk to customers. Rather, they want it to be humans dictating that brand experience.
“There’s been a real reticence organizationally around AI in general,” Smith said in response.
Smith noted that businesses “have to be careful about guardrails and what agents can say.” He also noted that Nippon Sanso Matheson is still writing its AI policy in real time as he works to create use cases.
Sign up
Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube.
FavoriteThe post Nippon Sanso Matheson unifies platforms in digital transformation process appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.
from Digital Commerce 360 https://ift.tt/jVft05b
0 Comments