How a Leading FMCG Brand Scaled Digital Transformation in B2B with Headless Architecture and Adobe Experience Cloud

About the Customer

Our customer is a leading multi-brand global FMCG brand with numerous retail stores across the globe catering to millions of customers.

Business Challenges:

The client group aimed to digitise millions of mom-and-pop retailers worldwide, seeking to boost both top and bottom-line growth across diverse geographies.

With a significant presence in B2B markets, the brand recognized the need to deliver a more flexible, scalable, and personalized digital experience for its distributors and retailers.

However , there were multiple hiccups on their way retarding their progress.

The client’s existing ecommerce system was constrained by its monolithic architecture, which caused serious user experience and scalability issues. Other key challenges included:

• Fragmented Sales Channels: Traditional web stores were limited in flexibility, requiring a digital-first solution to engage retailers across web and mobile channels.
• Complex Pricing & Catalog Rules: Managing over 7 million pricing records and 1 million B2B catalog and sales rules presented a challenge in delivering personalized experiences at scale.
• Slow Page Load Times: The brand required a lightning-fast user experience to cater to retailers, with a goal of achieving sub-second response times.
• Low Self-Ordering Rates: In key markets, the brand sought to increase self-ordering rates, surpassing industry benchmarks and competitors.

Embitel Solution:

The FMCG group sought to transform its traditional sales channels by enhancing self-ordering rates, driving operational efficiency, and creating new opportunities for engagement.

Based on the knowledge of their business model and digital aspirations , Embitel’s digital experts suggested creating a headless storefront ( HSF) , a robust Headless B2B2C e-commerce platform using Adobe Commerce Cloud.

Here’s a quick overview of the different phases of the solution journey:

1. Analysis and Planning:

Our team, led by solution architects and innovators, thoroughly analyzed the challenges and captured all relevant data points. After multiple rounds of requirement elicitation discussions with the client, we proposed a microservices-based, event-driven, cloud-native architecture to proceed.

2. Building the Solution from the Ground Up

A dedicated team was formed and trained on advanced technologies such as Nuxt.js, Golang, and TypeScript, enabling them to build a robust platform. Our focus was not only on delivering the solution but also on upskilling the team for long-term success.

The HSF solution, built on advanced MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless) architecture and first implemented in North America , enabled:

• Edge Rendering & JAM Stack: Delivering sub-second response times across all pages, including complex processes like cart and checkout, even with thousands of catalog and promotional rules.
• Personalized Experiences: Adobe Sensei AI was deployed to deliver tailored product recommendations, pricing, and promotions specific to customer segments and tiers.
• WhatsApp Login Feature: In certain parts of North America, a unique WhatsApp authentication process was introduced. This process allows retailers to log in directly via a WhatsApp link, boosting user engagement and simplifying access to the platform.
• Mobile-First PWA & Quick Commerce: The platform expanded beyond traditional web stores, incorporating mobile-first Progressive Web Apps (PWA) and Quick Commerce capabilities for rapid order fulfillment, offering delivery within hours to B2B retailers and outlets.
3. Implementation and Testing

After four months of intensive work, we successfully demonstrated the end-to-end solution to the FMCG group.

The project progressed through alpha and beta phases and rigorously tested to ensure high performance under heavy loads.

This phase included implementing Adobe Sensei AI for personalized product recommendations and WhatsApp Login for seamless authentication in key regions.

Soon after receiving approval from the client, the platform went live in production, serving 1.25 million customers globally.

Embitel Impact:

By leveraging Adobe Experience Cloud and Headless Architecture, the brand successfully digitized millions of mom-and-pop retailers.

The solution provided new sales channels, enhanced customer engagement, and significantly improved operational efficiency, setting a new benchmark for B2B2C commerce in the FMCG industry.

Key outcomes included:

• 112% Increase in Store Onboarding Efficiency: The streamlined platform allowed for faster onboarding of new retailers.
• 100% Growth in Sales Volume: Thanks to personalized pricing, catalog mapping, and promotional rules, sales surged across markets.
• 90% Self-Ordering Rate: The intuitive interface, bulk ordering, and quick reordering capabilities enabled high self-service rates.
• 103% Increase in Transaction Values: Retailers benefited from a faster, smoother experience, boosting transaction sizes.
• Reduced Operational Costs: The lean, cloud-native infrastructure delivered high performance at lower costs.
• Edge over competition: The journey from monolithic limitations to a cutting-edge, scalable digital platform marked a major success, helping them deliver significant business value and enhanced application resilience and CX.
• Improved Load time: Thanks to the modular and headless platform, the load time of the ecommerce storefront saw a massive 93% improvement , on average , with the pages loading in just milliseconds.

Tools and Technologies:

• Adobe Experience Cloud
• Nuxt.js,
• Golang
• TypeScrip