FTZ
Overtaking the competition

The automotive industry is changing. Car parts are more reliable. Competition from electric and autonomous vehicles is growing. Customer expectations are rising. Even the very concept of mobility itself is evolving.

As the leading B2B distributor for car workshops in Denmark, FTZ needed to lead from the front on these developments or risk being left behind. So we teamed up to help them weather these industry changes.

FTZ’s vision is to become the automotive industry’s leading ecommerce and partner portal. But to achieve such a goal, it needed to change how its customers – car workshops – were served.

We helped it transform its traditional approach to selling online: moving its ecommerce solution, FTZ Shop, into the fast lane. The result? A customer-centric solution that fully supports the everyday life of running a modern car workshop.

Here’s how we did it.

First, we upgraded FTZ’s outdated, legacy platform with a customisable, user-focused solution. This allows its customers to access the FTZ site on any device, anywhere. We also made it easier to look up and handle specific car-related tasks like oil change, lubrication charts and service report. The icing on the cake? Everything the customer needs to know is now all in one place. 

We didn’t just pull these changes out of thin air. It was all based on real-life user feedback. Responding to this feedback, we ditched the old catalogue look and feel. In its place are a winning combination of image-led, store-influenced design and responsive frontend technologies. Together, they deliver the customers’ biggest wish: to search for car parts the way they like best – visually.

What does that really mean, under the hood? An intuitive and accessible website that is inclusive of all users – no matter their language skills, reading level or preferences. This way, they can find and consume the content they need, faster. And that makes for happier customers!

Like today’s car parts, the FTZ solution is made to last. Based on the principles of MACH architecture, customer-centricity, agile implementation and user behaviour insights and feedback, the FTZ website is scalable. That’s by design. Given the speed of change in the automotive industry, FTZ needs to be ready to pivot at a moment’s notice.

PUTTING FTZ’S CUSTOMERS IN THE DRIVING SEAT

To understand what car workshops really want, we invited FTZ’s customers to come on the reinvention journey with us.

By including customers from day one in defining the project and verifying the solution, we know our platform provides the most user-friendly experience on the market. Flexibility was an essential requirement for them. That’s why the end solution is way more mobile-friendly, reflecting the changing how and where FTZ customers conduct their business today.

HEADLESS ARCHITECTURE

A flexible MACH architecture is the foundation for FTZ’s new platform. Azure Cloud ensures it is scalable. This base, combined with the decoupled, componentised and service-orientated nature of the platform supports FTZ’s future innovation and business development. 

The FTZ solution ticks every box for everyday commerce capabilities. But we’re not hitting the brakes there. Our headless and cross-functional approach has the potential to explore more advanced solutions like CRM (Customer Relationship Management) so FTZ can review transactions and customer networks more closely.

FTZ was founded in 1962 and is Denmark’s leading B2B distributor for car workshops. Its services vary from delivery of car parts and personal service and sparring to business consulting and further education in a rapidly changing automobile industry. Today, FTZ has 50 branches around Denmark and more than 1.100 employees. FTZ’s new – yet to be built – headquarters with an automated warehouse will cement its position as the biggest wholesaler in Denmark.