ifm
A New Technical Foundation for International E-Commerce
ifm’s existing e-commerce platform was approaching the end of its lifecycle. The company therefore introduced commercetools as its new technical foundation – a cloud-based, modular platform for international e-commerce.
The project was not about redesigning the customer-facing shop. Instead, the focus was on creating a future-ready architecture, strengthening system integration, improving stability and streamlining internal processes.
Technology Selection
Why commercetools? ifm selected commercetools as a cloud-based e-commerce platform that could become part of a larger system landscape rather than operate as a standalone shop solution.
Its ability to integrate with existing core systems was particularly important to ifm. This makes it possible to automate more processes and use information where it is needed.
Another key requirement was reliable data synchronization between the systems involved. In particular, closer integration between CRM and commerce should give customers faster access to their individual conditions and personalized product recommendations.
Replatforming Approach and Implementation
Strategy workshops formed the basis for evaluating the future e-commerce architecture. The system selection was completed in mid-2023.
The Proof of Concept was completed in November 2023.
Following diva-e’s onboarding in April 2024, implementation of the MVP began in the second quarter of 2024.
Austria and the Netherlands went live on the new platform in March 2026.
OCI/cXML punchout functionality was also implemented. The international rollout is ongoing, alongside continued feature development.
Austria and the Netherlands were deliberately chosen as the pilot markets. Both are strategically relevant while offering manageable transaction volumes. This provided a balance between keeping risk under control and generating valuable insights. The experience gained from these first rollouts is now informing the rollout to additional countries.
Services & Partner
The project covered a broad range of services:
Strategy and conceptual development
Selection and implementation of commercetools
Proof of Concept
MVP implementation
Integration with SAP ERP and Salesforce
Implementation of OCI/cXML punchout
Country rollouts
Ongoing feature development
Onboarding and training for country organizations
Results
The replatforming created a new technical foundation for ifm’s international e-commerce business. Importantly, the project was not about redesigning the customer-facing shop or adding new customer features. The existing interface remained unchanged.
The real value lies beneath the surface: a new architecture, greater system stability and improved internal processes.
The migration was completed without disrupting day-to-day operations and remained almost invisible to customers. Compared with the previous platform, the new system also provides greater stability and availability.
The first rollouts confirmed that the new approach works technically, functionally and organizationally, providing a solid foundation for further international implementation.
First Success Metrics
6 of around 50 countries live
More than 10,000 orders processed
More than €13 million in revenue generated
11 country go-lives planned for 2026
20+ additional country go-lives planned for 2027
4.6 out of 5 rating for data synchronization between commercetools and Salesforce
75% of respondents report spending less time working in the shop system
Around 30 minutes saved per day for every second Customer Service employee surveyed in the pilot countries Austria and the Netherlands