British American Tobacco (BAT) is a global leader in the development of multi-category consumer goods, stimulating the senses of adult customers for over a century. With an understanding that consumer behaviours are changing, the organisation has adapted and is committed to reducing the health impact of its business.By producing a wide range of reduced-risk alternatives, including vapour and tobacco heating products, BAT strives to provide consumers with a choice of enjoyable experiences. As a business driven by innovation and technological solutions, they knew that they would need a partner with complementary values to help solve their next challenge and to build a better future.BAT approached eWave for their specialised solutions and speed to market, and embarked on a pioneering partnership together.
The primary objective of BAT is to build ‘A Better Tomorrow’, using smart technology and connectivity to accelerate this vision. For this project specifically, they aspired to apply technology and new ways of working to unlock commercial value across the entire organisation.
They wanted to launch a B2C eCommerce solution in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region for three new brands in the ‘reduced-risk product category’: Velo, Glo and Vuse. The solution had to help the brands launch digitally and deliver results, fast. Specifically, the objectives were:
- For eCommerce to become the leading, centralised channel for business.
- To provide a superior experience that would satisfy changing consumer behaviours.
- To develop a competitive eCommerce system that could be sustainably managed by the I.T. team.
- To open a dialogue with the consumer and provide a wide variety of options.
As the initial digital first approach for BAT, leveraging eCommerce as the primary sales channel for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East was a novel and disruptive way of thinking for the organisation. But, with zero physical presence in over 40 markets in the region, BAT knew they could trust eWave to help build their digital solution and successfully guide them through localisation requirements.
eWave decided to build a Magneto platform for Velo Indonesia using the Unicore framework, and then leverage that core build to facilitate the roll out of three brands in multiple markets throughout APME. The Unicore framework streamlines the implementation of an online solution on the Magento 2 platform, reducing development time by up to 50% while delivering unprecedented levels of quality.
This approach was not only innovative for Indonesia, but also extremely exciting for the region as a whole, with the aim of forming the blueprint and strategy approach for Asia. Moreover, 60-70% of the Indonesian platform could be repurposed for other markets.
eWave launched the first brand in just three months by implementing a headless architecture Magento solution with the LUFT template approach. BAT also wanted to launch in new markets with monthly releases, therefore eWave built in this capability to expedite time to market.
By implementing a headless framework with Magento’s Progressive Web Applications (PWA), eWave were able to develop a solution that offered:
- Instant load time, mobile app interactivity, offline mode and more.
- Headless experiences without losing data provider autonomy.
- Easy Integration.
- Speed to market.
The solution was designed to seamlessly integrate with:
Payment Gateways. As credit cards have low penetration in emerging markets, the solution had to support cash on delivery and local mobile payment methods:
- Indonesia – ESPay
- Philippine – Cash on delivery
- Pakistan – Cash on delivery
Hard age verification. Requires customers to upload local ID to meet the legal requirement.
Marketing Automation.
- Indonesia – Salesforce CRM / Marketing Cloud
- Philippine – Dotdigital
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