Case Study

BUSINESS

The Medipolis Group operates three physical pharmacies in Germany and a growing

online store, which accounts for 20 percent of its turnover. The company provides

products and services to both consumers and healthcare organisations.

CHALLENGE

To diversify and grow its customer base, Medipolis needed a fl exible and

integrated ecommerce platform to support the launch of new offerings and a

multichannel strategy.

SOLUTION

Medipolis has transformed its online shopping services by deploying a cloud-based

ecommerce platform from Demandware. Integrated with its ERP system, the platform

enables dynamic pricing, product, and inventory updates to the online product

catalogue and supports mobile shopping and innovative features.

RESULTS

Online sales have increased fi ve percent month on month since the new

Demandware-enabled pharmacy went live in May 2012. Customer satisfaction

is also on the rise as orders can be placed and fulfi lled faster.

Industry segment

Pharmacy

URL

www.medipolis.de

Scale

160 employees

400,000 customer orders

Medipolis boosts online sales and improves customer experience

In partnership with:

2

BUSINESS

A SEAMLESS PHARMACY EXPERIENCE

From hospitals and nursing homes to patients and pharmacies, the Medipolis Group

plays a key role in the medical supply chain across Germany.

The group is committed to delivering a seamless pharmacy service, which

encompasses physical and online stores, home care and the production of sterile

solutions.

Medipolis operates three pharmacies in the region and has a growing online business,

which accounts for around 20 percent of its overall turnover. Due to EU regulations,

online pharmaceutical sales are currently focused on Germany, but the company is

hoping to expand its ecommerce operations to other countries in the future.

Both patients and healthcare providers can purchase a broad range of products from

the Medipolis online pharmacy – from common medicines and mother and baby

products to homecare and beauty items.

CHALLENGE

CONTINUING TO EXPAND AND GROW THE CUSTOMER BASE

The company’s online channel is fundamental to diversifying and growing its customer

base. To achieve its expansion goals, the online experience must remain compelling.

As Ecommerce Manager Ingmar Wegner, responsible for ecommerce explains:

“Customers buying from an online pharmacy are looking for special offers and will

often compare prices across sites. To attract and retain customers we need to offer

both competitive prices and an effi cient online experience.”

Medipolis originally launched its online pharmacy in 2007 with the help of a local

system integrator. While the ecommerce platform was based on a merchandise

management system specifi c to the pharmacy sector, the technology soon

became out of date.

“Making upgrades to the ecommerce platform was

expensive and complicated, which made it diffi cult to

introduce new online offerings for customers,” comments

Wegner. “The team needed up to three weeks to make

changes to a promotion or set up a new one.”

Medipolis wanted to do more than just sell products to

its customers via the web; it was looking to recreate the

same personalised experience and service that exists in its

physical stores.

“In a store, the pharmacist can help a customer

face-to-face and provide advice and information about

different medicines and products,” comments Wegner.

“We wanted to be able to offer on-demand video content

“We now have the ecommerce foundation we need to provide customers with competitive prices and exceptional service.”

–Ingmar Wegner

Ecommerce Manager

Medipolis

Case Study: Medipolis

3

and live chat facilities to our customers, but this was not possible with the legacy

ecommerce platform.”

Medipolis also wanted to enrich the online pharmacy experience by fulfi lling orders

faster both regionally and nationally. “Customers often need quick access to the

products they buy online, so we wanted to be able to offer same and next day

deliveries, but integration between our ecommerce platform and other enterprise

systems was too costly and complex,” explains Wegner.

Integration is fundamental to the Medipolis business model – and the company’s

future success. To continue to increase online sales and revenue, it needed to

establish a multi-channel strategy underpinned by a fl exible, open and cost-effective

ecommerce platform that could scale to support future growth.

SOLUTION

A SCALABLE AND INTEGRATED ECOMMERCE PLATFORM

In January 2012, Medipolis laid the technology foundations needed to help achieve its

multichannel ambitions. Like many companies that need to scale to support growth,

Medipolis opted for an on-demand solution.

Medipolis decided to implement Demandware’s ecommerce platform as it meets all

the current needs of its online pharmacy and provides a digital backbone for future

multi-channel growth objectives.

“By using a cloud-based ecommerce platform, we can eliminate the expensive and

time-consuming technology upgrade cycle and minimise capital investments in

new hardware. This ensures we always have the latest technology available to us,

and allows us to focus our resources on better serving our customers,” comments

Wegner.

As well as being more cost-effective, a cloud-based approach enables Medipolis to:

• Free up IT staff

• Accelerate time-to-market for new offerings

• Scale to meet growth on demand.

The implementation of the Demandware’s ecommerce platform took place during

the fi rst three months of 2012 with assistance from Demandware solution partner,

BE EXCELLENT.

In addition to scoping the design requirements of the new online pharmacy,

BE EXCELLENT assisted with the technical process planning, system integration and

implementation as well as the front-end development, which are all fundamental to

enabling Medipolis’ multichannel strategy.

Melani Okon, Marketing Manager at Medipolis, comments: “The support from both

BE EXCELLENT and Demandware helped to accelerate the launch of our new online

pharmacy. BE EXCELLENT is a competent an reliable partner who played a key role

“The new platform comes with advanced data analysis tools that enable us to track customer buying trends.”

–Melani Okon

Marketing Manager

Medipolis

Case Study: Medipolis

in integrating the ecommerce solution with our payment system and establishing new

interfaces with our ERP platform.”

The content management capabilities of Demandware must be robust, as product

information – including publicity photos, descriptions, attributes and prices – are fed

automatically from the ERP system into the online store. With more than 125,000

products in its portfolio and new items being added on a regular basis, any weak link

in the ERP/ecommerce chain could have signifi cant consequences for online sales.

The Medipolis website provides customers with step-by-step guidance throughout the

shopping process and features an interactive environment with 10 main categories,

which are easy to navigate and provide an intuitive and fully-featured shopping

experience for customers. The site also supports the complex processes involved in

selling medication with or without prescription, including legal requirements.

MAKING SHOPPING EASIER AND MORE CONVENIENT

With its new and improved online pharmacy live since May 2012, Medipolis is now

looking at other ways in which it can improve the customer experience leveraging

Demandware’s open and extensible platform.

Enabling users to purchase products via their mobile phones is a key next step in

the company’s multichannel strategy. “To maximise sales, we need to ensure our

customers can shop at any time and from any device at our online pharmacy,”

comments Wegner.

To expand the diversity of products on sale via the store, Medipolis hopes to develop

an integrated offering with its partners. As Okon explains: “There is a huge market for

care products for animals. With a link to partner sites, we could offer our customers a

one-stop-shopping experience.”

RESULTS

GREATER ONLINE SALES AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

The website relaunch has been a great success for Medipolis. Online sales

have increased fi ve percent month on month since May 2012. “We

are now able to offer our customers a broader range of online

products and services,” confi rms Wegner.

Medipolis has also improved the customer experience by

maximising the performance and availability of the site. As

Wegner explains: “Due to the stability and scalability of the new

platform, our online pharmacy is always available and ensures

that customers can order products at any time of the day.”

The company can also make more informed decisions about

what products to include in its online catalogue. “The new

platform comes with advanced data analysis tools that enable us

to track customer buying trends,” comments Okon. “This will help us

Case Study: Medipolis 4

125,000products in the Medipolis

online portfolio

THE BOTTOM LINE

> Broader customer base

> Lower IT costs

> Higher online sales

> Better online experience for customers

> Faster product deliveries

© 2013 Demandware, Inc.

This document contains archival information

which should not be considered current and

may no longer be accurate.

Demandware, Inc.

5 Wall Street

Burlington, MA 01803

demandware.com

ensure we have the right volumes of products available to match customer demand

at certain times of the year.”

In addition to its early success, Medipolis’ investment in a digital commerce backbone

will provide an open and scalable foundation to achieve its aggressive multichannel

growth objectives.

Today, every order that comes in before midday is delivered to the customer the

same day. This includes wholesales products. “This is only possible due to the deep

integration of the ecommerce platform with the ERP-system,” adds Wegner.

The video features of the Demandware solution will be ready to into production during

the fi rst quarter of 2013. In 2014 this will be followed by the integration of the chat

option, which will make online shopping with Medipolis even more convenient for

customers.

“We now have the ecommerce foundation we need to provide customers with

competitive prices and exceptional service,” comments Wegner. “This has already

had a positive impact on customer satisfaction and will help us continue to grow our

online business.”

ABOUT DEMANDWARE

Demandware, a leader in digital commerce, enables the world’s premier retailers to

move faster and grow faster in the changing face of retail. Demandware’s enterprise

cloud platform minimizes the costs and complexities of running global, omni-channel

commerce operations, and empowers retailers to respond with speed and agility to

new market opportunities and continually evolving consumer expectations.

For more information, visit demandware.com, call +1-888-553-9216 or

email info@demandware.com.

ABOUT BE EXCELLENT

BE EXCELLENT is a specialised consulting and services company that designs,

develops and operates ecommerce frameworks and customer experience

management platforms. BE EXCELLENT specifi cally supports growth-oriented

companies and brands in business-to-consumer segments, such as services,

fashion, luxury and retail, providing them with internationally scalable ecommerce

platforms. www.bee.io