UNIMARKT Online Shop

With more than 130 locations in six federal states, UNIMARKT already focused in 2014 on consistently combining brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce. Together with syreta, an innovative omni-channel solution was created that digitally extends the classic grocery shopping experience and offers customers a new level of convenience.

The challenge

Online grocery retail places special demands on processes, availability, and logistics. The goal was to create a solution that optimally connects brick-and-mortar retail with the online shop while also enabling a user-friendly shopping experience. Particular attention was paid to usability, web design, and the intelligent linking of assortments, stores, and delivery options.

Online grocery retail in 2014 - pioneering work under real conditions

When UNIMARKT and syreta tackle the project in 2014, online grocery retail in Austria is still largely uncharted territory. Unlike non-food items, fresh and refrigerated products place special demands on storage, picking, and delivery. Each order must be assigned to a specific store that has the relevant assortment in stock and can pick it within a defined time window. In addition, availability differs depending on location and region. A technical solution that maps all of this while remaining easy for end customers to use was a real challenge at the time - and at the same time an opportunity to position itself as a pioneer in Austrian food retail.

syreta’s solution

For UNIMARKT, syreta developed an online shop with comprehensive functions for grocery retail:

• Territory allocation with order time windows, assortments, and availabilities
• Themed worlds for inspiring product presentation
• Wish lists that can be shared with other people
• Price alert function
• Recipe database
• SAP integration
• Newsletter interface
• Interlinking of online shop and brick-and-mortar stores in the sense of an omni-channel strategy

The result

Orders are placed online, then picked in the nearest UNIMARKT store and either delivered by post or made available via chilled pickup stations. This created a high-revenue omni-channel solution that intelligently connects digital and brick-and-mortar sales channels. For this concept, UNIMARKT was awarded the EHI Retail Technology Award Europe in 2015 in the category “Best Multichannel Solutions”.

A milestone in digital grocery retail

The UNIMARKT online shop already showed in 2014 how brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce can be successfully linked. With a focus on user-friendliness, end-to-end processes, and regional fulfillment structures, a forward-looking solution for Austrian grocery retail was created.

Services: E-commerce, omni-channel retail, online shop, SAP integration, usability, web design, recipe database, newsletter integration, process digitization.

What makes the UNIMARKT online shop in 2014 so remarkable is the timing. Online grocery retail in Austria was still truly uncharted territory back then - no established role models, no proven fulfillment structures, no playbook. The concept of placing orders online and having them picked in the nearest store was innovative at the time. That it was awarded the EHI Retail Technology Award Europe in 2015 in the category “Best Multichannel Solutions" confirms this.

For syreta, the project was an important proof: complex omnichannel solutions in grocery retail are feasible - if the technical foundation is right and all parties work consistently toward the same goal.