to future-proof its online presence and help drive sales
SPAR Austria takes first step with composable commerce technology
to future-proof its online presence and help drive sales
● European retailer with 3,200+ stores in 8 countries bets on new e-commerce tech to
improve INTERSPAR’s e-shop performance and customer experience in Austria, SPAR
in Slovenia and SPAR in Hungary
● Composable commerce answers consumer demands for seamless, personalised
experiences
● Market leading tech providers Vue Storefront and Contentstack selected to drive
SPAR Austria’s e-commerce evolution
The SPAR Austria group — SPAR (including INTERSPAR and Maximarkt), Hervis and
SES Spar European Shopping Center — is upgrading its INTERSPAR Austria online shop
with composable commerce technology to help improve the experience of its customers
and boost revenues.
The group’s IT unit, SPAR ICS, selected two leading composable commerce technology
providers to support its online evolution: Vue Storefront, the pioneering Frontend as a
Service that manages the customer-facing presentation layer; and Contentstack, the
leading Composable Digital Experience Platform provider.
SPAR ICS decided to build its new platform using state-of-the-art technologies to gain
maximized flexibility and scalability. Aiming to focus on providing superior user experiences
across platforms, and with the growing need to deliver more unique and engaging content,
the previous technological setup did not meet its needs.
“We recognised the need for a more innovative ecommerce solution” said Andreas
Kranabitl, Managing Director, SPAR ICS. “The partnership with Vue Storefront and
Contentstack allows us to leverage the latest web technologies, achieve superior
performance, and provide an exceptional shopping experience to customers while
maintaining the agility and flexibility to adapt to changing market demands.”
Addressing need for greater customisation and individualisation
Vue Storefront and Contentstack are members of the MACH Alliance, a leading
international group of technology companies that advocates for and supports enterprises
with the adoption of open and best-of-breed composable technologies as they move away
from traditional digital legacy infrastructure.
Composable commerce gives businesses control of their digital commerce, enabling them
to select best-of-breed e-commerce software components and construct flexible website
architectures that respond to change quickly and seamlessly. With greater agility,
enterprises like SPAR can better adapt to the evolving needs of customers, the wider
market and their specific business model needs.
“These are challenging times for the global marketplace,” says Patrick Friday, CEO, Vue
Storefront. “The last few years saw rapid digital transformation and changed consumer
behavior forever. Enterprises now need to handle myriad touchpoints and reach customers
where they are, based on data, not waiting for them to come to the brand. That’s what
composable commerce enables and what our frontend technology helps accelerate. We’re
seeing more and more enterprises, like SPAR, seeking composable commerce solutions to
spearhead their omnichannel e-commerce strategies. It can really give a brand an edge
over the competition.”
Enabling businesses to navigate difficult economic landscape
With the total number of digital assets increasing by 24% a recent Incisiv executive survey
found that less than half of retailers believe they are well prepared to manage the future
pace and complexity of their ever-growing digital operations.
“With the explosive growth of omnichannel, businesses are looking to deploy technology
that provides them with the agility they need to scale their organisation. Contentstack
delivers a viable path for businesses to adapt quickly to customer demands, and move at
the speed of their imagination.” said Neha Sampat, CEO, Contenstack. “SPAR is a
perfect example of how composable commerce can seamlessly integrate and support
businesses’ growing demand for omnichannel solutions, without having to be locked in to a
single technology partner.”
Research and consulting firm Gartner coined the term composable commerce in 2020,
noting how digital commerce platforms were, “experiencing ongoing modularisation in a
cloud-native, multiexperience world”. It predicted that by 2023, organisations that adopted a
composable commerce approach will outpace the competition by 80% in speed of new
feature implementation. As businesses move towards omnichannel e-commerce
strategies, the ease of integration – and subsequent flexibility – is set to become the default
approach for technology strategies wanting to provide the most compelling customer
experience possible.
