Maplin is working to take its in-store service online by improving its flexibility and customer choice.
The technology business, a Top100 retailer in IRUK Top500 research, is working with Ensono on a new digital offering, which includes both moving all appropriate applications to the SAP Hybris commerce platform while also moving mission-critical services to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The move represents a shift to the cloud for Maplin and one that it is expecting to make it more agile in responding to the changing demands of the retail market, helping deliver better customer service. That should also help it to meet spikes in demand in the Hallowe’en to Boxing Day quarter.
Omnichannel retailer Maplin sells 30,000 products across 800 technology categories and prides itself on the advice and information it can offer its customers in the store. Ensono was selected to help take this experience online.
Alan Kay, director of IT at Maplin , said: “This is the first time we are moving mission critical applications into AWS, which made it necessary to work with a partner that not only has the technical knowledge and experience but really understands our goals in the hyper-competitive retail market. We needed a partner that can help us truly deliver the best customer experience. Ensono proved itself to be just that partner, and we have been extremely impressed with their speed of delivery and how the Ensono team has integrated with ours.”
Since the work started, Maplin has achieved its aim of shortening its release cycle. Longer-term,it expects to become more responsive to customer needs, so that it can deliver a high-quality customer experience and increase online revenue.
Paul Morris, Europe managing director at Ensono, says: “Maplin has a tremendous reputation for delivering the best technology to consumers across the country and is renowned for its expert advice. We’re pleased to be working with Maplin on realising its vision to provide its signature instore first-class customer experience to today’s multichannel retail environment. We look forward to continuing to support Maplin on this journey.”
