The Car.Software Organisation in the Volkswagen Group relies on commercetools software for its group-wide e-commerce platform. commercetools helps create compelling online-offline buying experiences for customers as well as online sales channels for the sales divisions of the group brands
commercetools, a global leader in next-generation commerce software, has announced its partnership with one of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers, Volkswagen Group. The group chose commercetools because it provides a solid cloud-based foundation to launch the Volkswagen group’s central e-commerce solution and will deliver new commerce functionality and online channels for the first time.
The new platform from commercetools will allow customers to purchase everything from vehicles to hubcaps to digital services from Volkswagen and other group brands including Seat, Audi, Bentley and Porsche.
The group-wide solution enables customer contact across all touchpoints from traditional brand websites to mobile devices and the vehicles themselves. The first solutions based on the platform are already available in Germany, including for the sale of stock vehicles of Audi dealers or online order requests for the new ID.3 electric car from Volkswagen.
“We support our group brands in setting up online stores where customers can easily and conveniently browse and buy from the Volkswagen Group’s large product range,” explain Christoph F. Möller, Head of Digital Commerce at the Car.Software Organisation. “A central e-commerce platform is an important component of the brands’ digitisation strategy. We are therefore establishing an attractive, additional sales channel for the group brands, importers and dealers.”
Small parts, big impact: customisable microservices
Thanks to the flexibly combinable microservices from commercetools, digital strategies can be implemented just as easily as short-term push offers and promotions. The more agile the microservices are, the better the experience for the buyer. commercetools‘ technology means Volkswagen only need to add new products for sale to the e-commerce platform once, and they will be available on any channel the customer wants to use to purchase them. “Through our customizable microservices, Volkswagen retains full flexibility for upcoming campaigns,” explains Dirk Hoerig, founder and CEO of commercetools. “Due to our API-first approach, these are also extendable at any time. With the new e-commerce solution, the digital commerce team at Volkswagen enables its group brands to interact with their customers via the relevant touchpoints and to react very quickly to developments in the market.”
