New Online Site for Leifheit's German B2C Sales
Leifheit
The household products leader is now selling directly to customers via their new e-commerce platform
08 Jun 2020
For 60 years, Leifheit has been a leading supplier of cleaning, ironing, and drying equipment, kitchen utensils, wellness aids, and other household goods. It employs around 1,100 people and ships its products to 80 countries worldwide.
Customer
Leifheit
After the success of their pilot e-commerce implementation, a PWA implementation and a web portal redesign , the company bet on launching online B2C sales in Germany.
"The results of implementing and developing an e-commerce channel in Poland were so encouraging that we decided to conduct rollouts in other countries".
We are beginning with our domestic market [Germany] and are ultimately planning implementations in 11 countries - says Kim Schiefer, Leifheit AG.
B2C e-Commerce with an eye on the future
As Leifheit had the goal of rolling out multiple e-commerce channels across several countries, it was imperative to ensure their platform had the necessary flexibility and functionality to support expansion. To do that, we needed the following: a technical base, a way to manage local integration, and SSR implementation.
This is how things went.
Joint technological base
SAP Commerce, which allows businesses to create several local stores on one platform and manage products and their availability in particular markets. It also supports multiple currencies, languages, and local tax rates.
Our proprietary e-point CMS, which allows businesses to manage services on multiple markets using one CMS. (This is thanks to an extended model of authorizations and administrative groups.) It also supports multiple languages and provides advanced content translation tools.
Our e2m storefront, through which e-commerce stores provide an excellent mobile user experience via the PWA standard. The e2m storefront can be configured instantly: out-of-the box, it supports the most popular options and pre-integrated implementation scenarios from, among others, SAP Commerce.
Local integrations
In subsequent project stages, we implemented local payment systems such as Sofort, SEPA, and Invoice Payment. Next, we integrated with external services such as edrone, Baazarvoice, TrustedShops, and Commerce Connector. The implementation also accounted for extending the SAP ERP and PIM integrations with multi-country product catalogue support. The page and product card layouts and the purchasing process itself remained unchanged, which significantly accelerated the store launch.
What was unchanged?
- Technological base: SAP Commerce + e-point CMS + e2m storefront
- Page layout
- Product card layout
- Purchasing process
What required adjustment?
- Local payment systems
- External services
- SAP ERP integration
- PIM integration extension
SSR implementation – with a focus on SEO
During the final stage of the project, we implemented the SSR (Server-Side Rendering) standard. Server-Side Rendering generates static HTML on the server side rather than on the browser side (as is the case with most applications). Thanks to this, less time is needed to process and display the page. In practice, the recipient gets an HTML code that’s ready to use in the browser.
With SSR, the website can load faster without any concerns about browser robots not being able to spot it.
"The SEO improvement grows the number of customers visiting the store from the browser level. Faster loading times also have a positive impact on the user experience".
Outcome
In three months, we implemented a fully-functioning online sales system for Leifheit’s German market. Launching an e-commerce channel in the company's core market proved a roaring success. In the four months since its launch, more than 7,000 transactions have been completed on the site. Betting on the mobile user experience was the right decision - over 60% of customers use the platform on their smartphones or tablets.
Project scope
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Tools and technologies employed
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