The situation
Carlsberg is one of the largest and most iconic beer brewers in the world. Their products are sold in over 140 countries and their immense brand portfolio includes brands like Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, Grimbergen and Tuborg.
Carlsberg’s vision is to become the leader in Digital within the beer brewing industry, moving from a ‘beer supplier’ relationship to a collaborative ‘partner relationship’. This way, Carlsberg can work together more closely with their partners, growing and driving business to mutual success.
Challenge
Carlsberg chose Osudio to guide their digital transformation process, posing the question: how do you move a traditional B2B client relationship towards a business partner relationship through a digital engagement strategy?
From a UX perspective: How do you design a platform that handles: large and complicated orders, helps reducing the pressure on the customer service department, is flexible enough to be rolled out of multiple countries and brands?
Solution
I was involved in two phases of the project: The initial concept and MVP, and at later stage when we moved from project to product. Adding new features and expanding the to multiple brands and countries.
1. Concept and MVP
To make the first version of Carl’s shop was right on target, me and my colleagues were analysing customer journeys, using personas and customer experience maps. We interviewed the end-customers and spend time in the telesales department observing and listening. The first drafts of the solution was quickly validated in a low-tech way. The detailed designs were validated by customers in the target country.
2. From project to product
At this point the Carl’s shop is running and already proving a succes. New features were being requested, part of the complexity was that the requested features could differ per country. I would always connect the feature to a persona and it’s customer journey. The advantage was that it although the feature could be very complex, the needs and goals of the customer were always taken into account.
Results
Carlsberg’s digital platform goes beyond transaction and strengthens client relationships. It supports Carlsberg’s aspiration to guide and direct their customers in order to adapt/react to the ever-changing marketplace they operate in.
- Increase engagement with customers
- Template solution to support all markets
- Flexibility in terms of driving commerce and creating experiences
- Tie-ins to other marketing driven solutions, such as email marketing.
- Increase revenue by better customer journeys, clear promotion structure, rewards etc.
In 2018 we launched Carl’s shop – an integrated online ordering platform for on-trade customers – in Western Europe. Carl’s shop will provide superior customer service and reduce costs by digitising processes, globalising platforms and scaling online solutions. It works on all devices, enabling customers to place orders at any time of the day and avoid waiting inline for telesales. The platform gives acces to training and educational material and targeted promotions, and aims to provide advice on bestselling products based on similar outlets. The initial results have been promising, showing visible growth in net revenue per customer.
Source: Carlsbergs annual report 2019
