ARMONK, N.Y., March 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE:
IBM) announced that Praktiker, an international retail chain
offering home improvement and do-it-yourself (DIY) products,
launched a completely new omnichannel commerce solution in five
months in Bulgaria with IBM. The
new business management and web services offers a personalized
customer experience for Bulgarian shoppers looking at its 40,000
items, tripling both its in-store and online sales.
Praktiker operates nine DIY hypermarkets –two in Sofia and one in Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora, Pleven and Veliko Tarnovo –and
carries around 40,000 home improvement products. The retailer's
prior website required a lot of the employees' time to make simple
manual updates to easy fixes such as product promotions and
marketing campaigns. This lack of agility made it difficult for the
retailer to compete. Praktiker needed to attract more online sales
and use its website to bring more consumers into the physical
hypermarkets.
Praktiker teamed with IBM Global Business Services to drive its
digital transformation and provide a full omnichannel commerce
solution. In five months, IBM provided a complete business
management and integrated web solution service to Praktiker,
everything from performing the data migration to building the first
online catalog for its 10,000 products. Since the solution is fully
integrated with business systems such as warehousing, product
picking, logistics and procurement, Praktiker can now execute
simple price changes, product promotions and marketing campaigns
within hours when it previously took days.
Since going live seven months ago, the new website has been
visited by 750,000 unique users. The traffic has gradually
tripled from around 1,500 visits a day to a new average of 5,000 a
day. In the same period, Praktiker's monthly in store and online
sales have almost tripled—all while increasing the average
transaction values.
"Working with IBM has enabled us to digitally transform and
personalize the customer experience. For example, we can create
special offers for individual customers and link to in-store
promotions, such as at home assembly or delivery services. This
allows us to tailor each order so it precisely fits their specific
needs--giving us an edge over competing retailers,"
said Kalin Georgiev,
Chief of Electronic Data Processing Department, Praktiker
Bulgaria. "These advanced e-commerce features combined with
the expert advice from IBM Global Business Services differentiated
our business and resulted in increased sales and profit."
The new site enables customers to access additional information
from an online catalogue of over 40,000 items, and they also can
learn DIY home improvement demonstrations. For example, how to
build a kitchen or design a bathroom. These interactive web
experiences are helping lead consumers into the physical
hypermarkets to explore new DIY home upgrade and design ideas.
"The retail industry is facing unprecedented change due to
global competition and evolving customer expectations. These
factors require retailers and brands to transform their businesses
from emphasizing transactions to focusing on customer
relationships," said Laurence Haziot, Global Managing
Director and General Manager, Consumer Industries, IBM. "We
are happy to help Praktiker create a differentiated customer
experience by leveraging data-driven insights so they can better
align the needs of their customers to put them on the path for
long-term success."
To support the new solutions, Praktiker uses IBM System Storage,
including IBM Storwize®V3700 and V7000 storage servers, built on
IBM Spectrum Virtualize™software.
About IBM Global Business Services For more information, visit:
http://www.ibm.com/services/gbs
About Praktiker
In 2014, Videolux Holding acquired the Bulgarian operations of the
German home improvement chain Praktiker. The company operates nine
DIY hypermarkets—two in Sofia and
one in Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas,
Ruse, Stara Zagora, Pleven and
Veliko Tarnovo—carrying around 40,000 home improvement products.
Customers who visit its stores can take advantage of services such
as timber cutting, bathroom designs, paint mixing, home delivery
and consumer credit.
Media Contact:
Katie Leasor
IBM Media Relations
kleasor@us.ibm.com
212-671-9356
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SOURCE IBM