American golf tees up for omnichannel success

American golf, Europe’s largest golf retailer, is using a new cloud based e-commerce platform from Demandware as the digital commerce foundation to power its omnichannel strategy. 

The company recently re-launched seven ecommerce and mobile sites on Demandware across Europe, including americangolf.co.uk, onlinegolf.co.uk, onlinegolf.de, onlinegolf.se, onlinegolf.dk, onlinegolf.fr and onlinegolf.eu, with additional sites planned for Italy and other countries. The initiative is part of the company’s strategic move from an on-premise platform to a cloud-based solution to support its aggressive growth plans.

 

Over the last 35 years, american golf has grown from a small business located on a golf course in Lancashire, UK, to Europe’s largest golf retailer, with 102 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The company needed an e-commerce system that would enable it to enter new markets quickly and operate efficiently without compromising quality and user experience. 

Compared to its legacy on-premise platform, american golf was able to effectively manage multiple sites across geographies and channels while also significantly decreasing time to market by using Demandware.

 

“We achieved in three months with Demandware what would have taken up to a year and required far more resources with our in-house platform,” said Pat Foley, head of e-commerce at american golf. 

“We launched seven web and mobile sites in a very short period of time and are now able to easily replicate changes across the entire estate, rather than dealing with sites, one at a time. We’re now on the front foot in every area, from daily management right through to international expansion. The Demandware platform is stable, reliable and allows us to act with speed and agility.” 

 

The Demandware Commerce platform has enabled Foley and his team to focus on strategy and growth, rather than day-to-day performance management. Previously, Foley would typically spend 50% of his time resolving issues. With the new software as a service (SaaS) platform, site performance issues are virtually eliminated and his team is able to dedicate their time to enhancing the customer experience with new features and functionality.

 

The new american golf sites also include several omnichannel features, including integrated gift cards, flexible delivery and instore collection options. In addition, the company now has a holistic view of customer information so that it can personalise the shopping experience and interactions across sites.

Foley added: “Onlinegolf is a pure-play brand and our strategy is to very quickly roll out multiple sites across Europe, off the same platform, which we have successfully done since we moved to Demandware in March. We were able to achieve in a short time with Demandware what would have taken up to a year and far more resources with our in-house platform.”

The retailer worked with BE EXCELLENT, a certified Demandware LINK solutions partner, on the platform migration project. In addition, it leveraged pre-built integrations to third-party technologies available through the Demandware LINK Technology Marketplace.

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