Lufthansa bolsters e-commerce model

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Lufthansa has invested in a new e-commerce platform to increase the levels of personalisation offered on its shopping website.

The German airline has selected multichannel commerce and communication software from specialist vendor hybris to update its WorldShop site and integrate its Miles&More loyalty programme solution into a single, more cost-effective system.

The WorldShop site is an extension of its in-flight shopping magazine, offering customers the chance to purchase travel, lifestyle, sports and entertainment goods direct online for money or loyalty points.

The Star Alliance founder said the complex integration of the Miles&More loyalty programme was a key factor behind Lufthansa WorldShop’s decision to invest in hybris because this facility was not readily offered by standard e-commerce software.

German partners of the e-commerce vendor, texcelerate solutions and ARITHNEA, developed a software extension based on hybris’ Commerce platform tailored to the loyalty programme.

“Among other things, we had to filter the Lufthansa WorldShop-specific settlement rules and integrate them smoothly into the shop – without detracting from the shopping experience,” said Michael Buschmann, ARITHNEA software architect.

In addition to the Miles&More programme integration, the new platform also provides other interfaces to external systems including its customer relationship management (CRM) system for customer communication, a merchandise management system and those used for credit-card providers.

The new platform is helping to unify product communication across Lufthansa’s online and offline channels and manage it centrally, it featuring simplified, web services and XML data management, an expansion of data availability with media master data and co-ordinated integration of all distribution channels using standard XML web technologies and services.

Christoph Sonntag, head of IT at Lufthansa WorldShop said that the adaptability of the software also accommodated potential for future expansion and plans for the launch of another online shop.

He added: “Content management with the hybris solution means that we can quickly change website content and product information without time-consuming imports.”

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