Multiple Markets, One E-commerce Standard
Mercedes-Benz.io GmbH, 100% subsidiary and an integral part of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, was facing the challenge of centralizing a globally distributed infrastructure for various markets. The standardization of e-commerce processes plays a key role, as well as the maintenance of the infrastructure. We at Unic are proud to support Mercedes-Benz.io in this global mission, by providing a team of professionals to join a global team of experts of more than 200 people.
- Customer
- Customer since
- 2019
- Go-Live
- July 2023
- Website
- www.mercedes-benz.io
7
Software Engineers
2
Solution Architects
1
Site Reliability Engineer (Systemverwaltung)
2
Test-Engineers
Teamwork and Sales Sections
Mercedes-Benz.io was looking for various specialists in different fields. Unic provided a total of twelve commerce experts clustered into agile teams based on expertise. The result of this teamwork is a global, fully integrated commerce solution carefully adapted to the individual markets and supported by a tailored IT system based on Kubernetes: flexible, highly scalable, and innovative to the core.
Different Business Models, One Standard
In frontend development, we had to account for different business models, which are made available based on the country. This is how different markets are matched with different customer requirements – both for B2C and B2B.
Fully Integrated E-commerce
In addition to the basic functionalities, customers can state the location where they would like their order delivered. The system can also factor in the client’s preferred dealership, displaying the final price and modes of payment.
Simplified Rollouts and Updates
Harnessing the vast range of expertise in the project led by Mercedes-Benz.io, we developed a flexible and configurable commerce solution focused on establishing a common standard with flexible options for configuration. The result: Future rollouts will be swift and easy to execute. Without a doubt, the procedure for future platform updates is the greatest benefit. Development time will also decrease drastically because the system only requires one rollout for new developments.
Configurable, But Core System Remains Untouched
Of course, the different versions can be configured individually. The core system, however, will always remain untouched.
In future, we will be working on creating country-specific configurations for the respective standard solutions. This includes sophisticated features, specific processes for the user flow and language and currency settings.
Kubernetes – Automated Operation From the Cloud
Since e-commerce solutions usually need to run continually and uninterruptedly, scale flexibly and handle very dynamic loads, we migrated internal IT to a Kubernetes environment – based on a cluster-as-a-service (CaaS) solution.
24/7 Availability and Automation
The advantage of this is Kubernetes itself. Every application is visualized in containers in the IT environment and operates independently from other applications – system dependencies and linked services included. This means that if one application fails, other instances handle the request. This type of container orchestration particularly pays off when applications and their components need to be available 24/7. And if you require more resources, the systems add them as needed.
Development With Increased Focus
The result is an infrastructure almost entirely represented in code as well as an application configuration that updates automatically. And if changes or optimisations are to be made, these are easily entered by developers, thanks to version control tool GitOps. This way, the high quality of code required is guaranteed. The high degree of automation enables developers to focus on what matters without limiting their options for influence when necessary.
Summary
Our team has worked with Mercedes-Benz.io to design a solution that is configured for specific countries. Only the central store solution needs to be maintained. The same applies to the cloud-based infrastructure. Thanks to Kubernetes, it even maintains itself to a certain extent.
The result is the implementation of a central control room for a global e-commerce company with this solution.
Contact for your Digital Solution with Unic
Book an appointmentAre you keen too discuss your digital tasks with us? We would be happy to exchange ideas with you: Jörg Nölke and Gerrit Taaks (from left to right).
Contact for your Digital Solution
Book an appointmentAre you keen to talk about your next project? We will be happy exchange ideas with you: Melanie Klühe, Stefanie Berger, Stephan Handschin and Philippe Surber (clockwise).
