LUMEN
How Quebec's largest electrical distributor achieved 4 consecutive years of double-digit online sales growth by making digital the default way B2B customers do business.
Visit website →Quebec's largest electrical distributor needed a digital leader
Lumen is the leading distributor of electrical and automation equipment in Quebec — with 40+ branches, a 565,000 sq ft distribution centre, and thousands of B2B customers across commercial, residential, industrial, and institutional markets.
Despite having an eCommerce platform since 1997, digital adoption was low. Most contractors and electricians still ordered by phone, fax, or at the counter. The technology existed — what was missing was the strategy, the leadership, and the organizational alignment to make digital the default way customers did business with Lumen.
Rudy Abitbol was brought in as Director of Digital Channels, reporting directly to the President, with a mandate to grow online revenue and make digital the primary channel for B2B ordering.
Changing how customers buy — not just what they buy on
The biggest challenge wasn't technology. It was behaviour change. Lumen's customers — electricians, contractors, procurement managers — had been ordering the same way for decades. Convincing them to switch to digital required more than launching a new website.
Rudy created a dedicated eCommerce advisor program that trained customers directly — in branches, on job sites, and through integration with Gestion CMEQ, the management platform used by Quebec's electrical contractors. The goal wasn't just to show people the tools. It was to make digital ordering easier than picking up the phone.
In B2B distribution, the biggest internal obstacle to digital adoption is often the sales team. Reps see eCommerce as a threat to their relationships and commissions. Rudy worked across sales, IT, operations, and executive leadership to position digital as a tool that made reps more effective — not one that replaced them.
Contractors don't sit at desks. Rudy led the launch of a native mobile app that gave field workers real-time inventory visibility and ordering capability from job sites — meeting customers where they actually work.
He built KPI frameworks from scratch to measure digital channel performance, partnered with BI teams to translate analytics into actionable growth strategies, and oversaw the integration of the eCommerce platform with the ERP, EDI connectors, and cXML PunchOut for enterprise procurement — ensuring that digital wasn't a standalone channel but the connected centre of how Lumen operated.
This wasn't a consulting project. Rudy ran these operations — accountable for revenue, adoption, budget, and team performance. That operator experience is what Human After All brings to every engagement. We don't just know how to implement platforms — we know what it takes to make them succeed inside real organizations.
"Inertia is not an option. Our customers now have a digital ecosystem that enriches their experience and makes it more efficient."
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