Digital Transformation Consulting

smart faced the challenge of disrupting traditional auto sales by establishing a direct-to-consumer model that integrated online and offline experiences in a way that reflected modern consumer purchasing behavior. They needed a marketing platform capable of providing a true end-to-end digital customer journey, along with advanced data capabilities to support future growth and innovation. To address this, Accenture partnered with smart to develop a new platform from scratch within a compressed timeline of 2.5 years, enabling rapid deployment.

The tailored solution centered around a commerce platform built from scratch, leveraging advanced customizations, multi-channel customer service, and integration with offline touchpoints such as test drives. The platform allowed users to trigger and complete purchases entirely online, offering a seamless and immersive experience. Underlying this was a sophisticated technology stack combining solutions from Adobe, SAP, and Salesforce, with a custom serverless, cloud-native front end that offers high flexibility through a decoupling layer and consistent design system. This architecture enabled easy addition or removal of features and centralized data collection from multiple sources to generate actionable insights.

The results were highly impactful; within just 24 hours of launching in Germany, the entire line of cars sold out, demonstrating a highly effective and engaging customer experience. Additionally, the platform established a central hub for efficient internal operations and supported a ground-breaking new business model for direct car sales. Overall, smart’s innovative digital platform and data-driven approach accelerated their market entry, revolutionized the car buying process, and positioned them as a leader in the electric vehicle space.