Mobility, trade and partnership – connected on one platform.

The Path to a Modern Platform

The core objective of the relaunch project was to replace the existing Sitecore content management solution — simply because it was no longer fit for purpose, due to high maintenance costs, error-prone data exports, and a lack of features. The relaunch was therefore intended to future-proof the platform. We sought out scalable solutions and found them in modern technologies and interfaces. We also addressed the fundamental requirements, including improved visibility and optimised customer journeys for both business and private customers.

A Digital Foundation Built for the Future

Through the relaunch and beyond, we created a headless Digital Experience Platform (DXP) with a range of powerful features under the hood:

• E-commerce functionality for purchasing and reserving vehicles

• Personalised shopping experience based on user behaviour

• AI-driven content presentation and search suggestions

• Innovative and intelligent search with over 100 filter options, individually ranked search results, and highlighted special offers

• Location search, wishlist functionality, and local landing pages

• Seamless integration with the company's existing systems

• Management and cleansing of vehicle data inventory

• Workflows and automation for content processing and presentation

• Custom marketing dashboards with qualified data to support better decision-making

Automation Meets Up-to-Date Content

What makes the new approach for both websites particularly distinctive is that 80% of the content is built using data from other systems. For example, information on vehicle details, prices, and current stock is fed directly onto the website from various internal company sources. To make this possible, interfaces were connected to the headless DXP and custom business logic was configured to process the data further. The key advantage: the information on the website is always current, content maintenance is reduced to a minimum, and marketing can be partially automated.

Visibility Made Easy

With the relaunch, we were able to significantly improve the search engine visibility of ahg / bhg — by an average of 100%, and in some cases even by 120%. We achieved this through the targeted expansion of relevant landing pages and by increasing the number of ranking keywords in the top 10 search results.

This outstanding online visibility was also recognised with an award: in 2019, shortly after the relaunch, ahg / bhg won eighth place out of more than 100 car dealers in Germany at the IAA.

Systematic Expansion

In 2022, the websites were expanded to include a new product category: since then, wheels and tyres can also be purchased from ahg / bhg. The greatest conceptual challenge for the website expansion was standardising the product pages — ensuring that the overview and detail pages maintain a consistent look and feel, regardless of whether a car or a wheel is being offered. With a clear vision, we created a design system that delivers consistency while still presenting product-specific details in an appropriate way.

Leads That Matter

Every day, ahg and bhg receive hundreds of enquiries for the sale of new and used vehicles. That is why we introduced a custom, data-driven lead scoring system that helps decision-makers ensure a high quality of enquiries. This spans everything from the allocation of advertising budgets to tracking management. In this way, data not only helps generate more enquiries but also ensures a higher quality of leads.

A Partnership That Goes Further

The automotive market is one of the largest and most fiercely competitive markets in existence. Car dealers can only win the race for customers by offering — alongside competitive pricing — outstanding service and an excellent customer experience that evolves dynamically with changing demands. In close partnership, we at Becklyn advise and support ahg / bhg on this ongoing journey. Together, we boldly explore new paths: fail fast, fail cheap — learn faster. With the shift towards new mobility and the significant disruption of the trade driven by OEMs, this project has been — and continues to be — consistently exciting. Especially when it comes to further development for the future.