Tata Steel Netherlands modernizes its e-commerce platform
TCS' implementation of headless commerce architecture empowers the steel major with unparalleled flexibility, improving time-to-market and CX.
Industry
Energy, Resources & Utilities
Rebalance the energy equation
Solution
Cloud
Enabling Enterprise Agility & Resilience with a Robust Cloud Strategy
Highlights
- One of the largest steel producers in Europe, Tata Steel Netherlands (TSN), sells part of its products on the TCS-developed e-commerce platform and improves the accuracy of dynamic pricing.
- The steel producer realized the need to upgrade the platform for improved scalability and flexibility and worked with TCS to implement headless architecture to improve pricing mechanisms and bundle offers.
- By offering TSN’s customers ease of use and flexibility, the upgraded e-commerce platform has given the company an edge over the competition.
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Overview
Tata Steel Group is one of the largest steel producers in the world.
It is also one of the top global steel companies and one of the world’s most geographically diversified steel producers. It has an annual crude steel capacity of 34 million tonnes and operates in 26 countries, with commercial offices in more than 35 countries.
As one of the largest steel producers in Europe, Tata Steel Netherlands (TSN) supplies high-quality steel products to many markets worldwide, with the understanding that customer needs differ across markets.
TSN’s production processes are becoming increasingly sustainable. This is important because sustainable steel is needed, now and in the future. For instance, steel is indispensable for the energy transition; it is used for solar parks, batteries for electric cars, and the production of lighter, sustainable products.
TSN aims to go for clean, green, and circular steel production, also called green steel.
Green steel refers to:
- Steel that is carbon neutral. By 2030, TSN aims to make steel with 40% less CO2 emissions. And by 2045, the company envisions to be a carbon-neutral steel producer.
- Steel production with a focus on the immediate living environment; various measures reduce the impact on the environment.
- TSN will increase circularity and reuse more steel, allowing the company to produce more sustainably. From 2030, it will increase the use of scrap from 17% to 30%.
TSN sells the material on its e-commerce platform on a first-come-first-served basis at the best possible price. TSN connects with its diverse clientele through the TCS-developed platform, which has improved the accuracy of dynamic pricing.
Challenges
TSN needed a future-proof e-commerce platform and was looking to de-customize the existing one.
The existing web-based platform was designed for desktops and could not be accessed through mobile devices. It was also restricted to a business sector and needed more flexibility to onboard other sectors. Additionally, the calculations of the material required automation, as they were being done manually, which could result in potential financial loss.
The platform, supported by SAP Commerce Cloud, required regular upgradation. However, the transition to the new version was slow, as each SAP Commerce Cloud backoffice upgrade took approximately six months.
Due to its complex pricing and bundle offer (list-selling) functionality, TSN sought to de-customize and upgrade the platform, cleaning up the core activities.
This project is an excellent example of how to leverage the value of digital for our customers. Thanks to this tooling, we can generate additional value in the market that we could not access before.”
Solution
TSN consulted its long-trusted partner, TCS, for strategy blueprinting and solution design.
TCS’ SAP CoE team recommended headless architecture for the platform, with the front-end presentation layer of SAP Commerce Cloud separated from the back-end core functionality layer, which unlocked a new realm of possibilities. Additionally, the TCS team suggested positioning the two highly customized functionalities—pricing and list-selling—outside the existing SAP Commerce platform.
For dynamic pricing calculation, TCS integrated an external pricing engine with the SAP Commerce Cloud and removed pricing customization from the existing web platform.
We implemented headless commerce architecture for single-piece selling and bundled offers. The team applied Angular and Drupal SPA architecture as the front-end and used APIs to integrate with the SAP Commerce Cloud.
TCS implemented a two-factor authentication process so users can browse the application seamlessly and buy steel coils on the e-commerce platform through mobile, tablet, desktop, or similar electronic devices. We helped upgrade the platform to include any new business sector, warehouse, or shipping site, among others, that were willing to sell through the platform.
Benefits
TSN's future-proof modern e-commerce platform is lightweight, flexible, and scalable.
The platform developed by TCS has benefitted the steel major in various ways -
1. Staying ahead of the competition: A customer survey suggested that TSN’s online e-commerce platform for selling steel coils online is platform-agnostic and a lot easier to use than its competitors.
2. Improving scalability: The decoupled architecture allows TSN to efficiently manage peak traffic periods and quick onboarding of new business sectors like distribution centers or downstream activities, to make their coils available and sell through the e-commerce platform without compromising performance.
3. Streamlining operations: With separate front-end and back-end systems, TSN has improved operational efficiency, reducing the time to market for new features.
4. Enhancing customer experience: The upgraded platform’s personalized and intuitive user experience has helped TSN engage and delight its customers, driving higher conversion rates and loyalty.
5. Reducing SAP Commerce upgrade time: The SAP Commerce upgrade has taken a significantly shorter time (less than three months).