Paris, 12th April 2012 – As part of a complete overhaul of its online offering, Delhaize has launched the new version of its Delhaize Direct website.

Delhaize Group, one of the global leaders in food distribution based in Belgium, has selected Compario to power its new Delhaize Direct website (www.delhaizedirect.be) a specialist online food retail outlet. Following the success of Delhaize Wine World (www.delhaizewineworld.com) and Delhaize.be, Delhaize Direct is the third Delhaize website to be successfully powered by Compario.

Professional expertise and in-depth understanding of E-Commerce challenges
After making the decision to overhaul its online applications, Delhaize turned to Itelios, a specialist E-Commerce systems integrator, which has worked closely with Delhaize since 2009. Itelios chose the Compario solution as the most suitable to support Delhaize in its development objectives.

“In addition to the solution itself, Compario offered a team with genuine know-how in the field of E-Commerce. Compario has an in-depth professional level of expertise, as well as a thorough understanding of our E-Commerce challenges, which is exactly what we needed” explains Louis Martin, E-Commerce director at Delhaize.

Stéphane Vendramini, vice president of product strategy at Compario, believes that “The Compario solution provides Delhaize with an operational capability which genuinely improves the online shopping experience. It also gives commercial control to business end users, capitalising on the initial investments made in the current E-Commerce platform.”

A system integrating point-of-sale specifics
The Delhaize Direct website allows shoppers to choose their products online and then to collect their purchases from their nearest store. Thanks to the flexibility of the Compario solution, customers are presented with specific offers and promotions as well as the products on display in their selected store, a feature which involves managing more than a hundred different options.

In less than six months, teams from Compario and its partner Itelios have fully integrated the solution and catalogue settings.

“The objective was to make navigation quick, easy and efficient, to add a powerful search engine, and to have the option of pushing products and to manage E-Merchandising in a dynamic manner,” explains Thomas Valette, manager of Delhaize Direct.

A wide operational scope and complete autonomy for business teams
The flexibility of the Compario solution, coupled with its capacity to give Delhaize teams complete autonomy, were absolutely key for Delhaize. “For us, the greatest asset is the capacity for our business and E-Commerce teams to manage the tool independently, without requiring assistance from the IT department or external service providers,” underlines Louis Martin.

Advanced and automated E-Merchandising operations are now entirely possible, in addition to the widely improved search and navigation functions.

“The operational scope of the Compario solution is very wide,” explains Sébastien Cools. “It includes catalogue structure and management, advanced personalised search and navigation functionalities. In addition it provides E-Merchandising functionality such as dynamically creating views, virtual characteristics, matching articles on the website with multi-criteria requests, displaying products with highly effective up-selling and cross-selling options.”

A cross-channel strategy integrating mobile
“Delhaize has had the chance to roll out the very best E-Merchandising practices on this new website, with rules that are sufficiently in-depth to allow customers to have a shopping experience similar to some of the best physical stores,” explains Louis Martin. “Now it’s just a question of migrating iPhone and Android applications. Thanks to Compario’s cross-channel management console, with centralised promotion and E-Merchandising management, we will have a complete cross-channel offering with options to order products online, via a mobile, or in-store.”

Delhaize Direct launched its mobile app in September 2011; it was an immediate hit, with over 13,000 downloads in just three weeks. Mobile phones represent an additional entry point for Delhaize, offering very practical functionality including the option to scan product labels in order to purchase items directly online.

And finally…
Augustin Lombart, business analyst at Delhaize, warmly welcomes the success of the new Delhaize Direct website: “As business project manager, I very much enjoyed undertaking this project which has allowed Delhaize to take a large step forward in its E-Commerce development. We have, without a doubt, one of the most attractive retailer sites in Belgium, and perhaps even Europe. I am sure that others will follow our example when developing their own websites!”

Pascal Podvin, CEO of Compario, concludes: “We are delighted to support Delhaize in developing its online strategy. With a turnover of €30bn, of which 60% is in the USA, Delhaize Group is positioned as one of the key players in the international retail sector for whom we power some of the most complex requirements.”