Business Overview
A leading U.S.-based retailer specializing in radio-controlled (RC) vehicles, including airplanes, helicopters, cars, trucks, and boats. Based in Pensacola, Florida, it offers a wide range of high-quality RC products and accessories from top brands. Known for excellent customer service and fast shipping, it serves hobbyists nationwide through its robust online platform.
Reason for Collaboration
The client (the RC retailer) wanted to enhance their online shopping experience for customers with interactive store maps, but faced technical hurdles. Their existing e-commerce platform couldn’t support dynamic mapping features and needed a solution that would work seamlessly across all devices while handling heavy traffic. They partnered with us to build and integrate a custom mapping system that connects with their Salesforce Commerce Cloud without slowing down their website.
Challenges
- Limited Interactive Features on E-Commerce Site: The retailer’s website had a lack of engaging visual tools to help customers explore physical store locations and available services. Static images and text listings made it difficult for hobbyists to understand what products or services were available at each location, potentially losing sales to competitors with better digital experiences.
- No Direct Mapping Solution in Commerce Cloud: Their Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud did not have built-in capabilities for interactive mapping. They needed a custom solution that could display clickable, dynamic maps with real-time information, but didn’t want to manage complex new infrastructure.
- Performance Concerns with High Traffic: During product launches and holiday seasons, the RC retailer’s website experiences significant traffic spikes. They wanted to maintain fast load times and smooth performance, even with thousands of simultaneous users browsing the maps.
- Complex Content Updates: The client’s team needed to frequently update store layouts and product placements to reflect inventory changes manually, but lacked an efficient way to push these updates to their digital maps. Manual processes required developer involvement for even simple changes, creating bottlenecks in their agile retail environment.
Solutions
Our experts built a Heroku-hosted Node. js-powered mapping application that integrates seamlessly with Salesforce Commerce Cloud via APIs. The solution uses an interactive mapping plugin to deliver real-time, engaging store layouts. Here’s how we solved each challenge:
- Interactive Store Mapping System: We implemented the Mapplic plugin to transform their static store images into fully interactive maps. Customers can now click on different store sections to see available RC products and services, delivering an engaging browsing experience that mirrors exploring a physical store.
- Lightweight Heroku Hosting Solution: We developed a Node.js/Express server specifically optimized for the mapping application and deployed it on Heroku. This gave them all the benefits of a custom solution without requiring new servers or complex IT management, and provided instant scalability when needed.
- High-Performance Commerce Cloud Integration: By connecting the Heroku-hosted mapping service to Salesforce Commerce Cloud through API endpoints, we ensured the interactive maps load quickly and work perfectly on both desktop and mobile. Now, the system is built on Heroku’s PCI-DSS-compliant, auto-scaling infrastructure, with fast performance, guaranteeing flawless performance and security during critical peak events like holiday sales and product launches.
- Streamlined Map Management: We configured a Git-based deployment pipeline and integrated mapping pipelines with Commerce Cloud Business Manager, so merchandisers can update layouts without dev interventions. This keeps their maps current with the latest products and promotions, while maintaining version control.
Benefits
- Differentiated the RC retailer with immersive, interactive store maps.
- Simplified their product discovery for customers through intuitive, clickable store layouts.
- Ensured reliable performance during high-traffic events like flash and holiday sales.
- Empowered marketing teams to update maps instantly without developer support.
- Delivered consistent user experience across mobile and desktop devices.
