Sonepar Electrifies Their Digital Presence with Global Omnichannel Commerce Platform


Headless Architecture and CMS Facilitate Omnichannel, MVP Reference Build

To streamline operations and efficiently consolidate Sonepar’s 80 subsidiary brand sites into a cohesive group of similarly functional commerce experiences, there needed to be a way to quickly make changes and update sites, as well as a more quick and efficient way to launch new sites.

To achieve those goals, Publicis Sapient built an omnichannel MVP reference build with a headless architecture that allows Sonepar to quickly iterate content-rich, omnichannel experiences for all of their subsidiary brands. The reference build serves as a foundation and template that Sonepar can use to create consistent yet varied transactional commerce solutions for all the subsidiary brands. 

Agile Methodology Drives Efficiency, Increase Productivity

By creating Agile teams working on each feature, the omnichannel reference build was completed quickly and with a flexible and adaptable working style where the most important items in the backlog were tackled first.



The Agile methodology allowed Publicis Sapient’s teams to deliver value to Sonepar’s stakeholders by meeting with them frequently and taking their strategic initiatives into account when deciding which items to implement from the backlog. Once the initial implementation was completed, Publicis Sapient’s teams were able to educate Sonepar and subsidiary brands' various teams about how to use the omnichannel reference build to implement unique experiences for their specific brand. 


By having individual teams working on specific features, the time-to-market was increased and an MVP reference build was delivered. 

Technological Partners Provide Key Capabilities, Deliver Unique Experiences

An advantage to using a headless frontend and composable architecture is that Sonepar can choose the best-in-breed components for all their functionalities, allowing all 80 of their subsidiary brands to deliver one-of-a-kind B2B shopping experiences to their customers. 

Some of the key technological partners and vendors in this engagement were Bloomreach’s product discovery functionality, Cloudinary’s asset delivery capability, CoreMedia was the headless CMS, Talon.One for loyalty and promotional marketing, and MongoDB as the cloud database. 

The ability to individually choose the best component for each specific capability is a luxury only afforded by a composable architecture. When implemented correctly, a composable solution delivers unparalleled ROI because it affords brands and merchants the ability to create unique and brand-specific experiences that drive revenue and provide value to users and developers. 
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Managed Services Deliver Digital Transformation

This project was delivered through Publicis Sapient’s Digital Factory managed services program which takes a holistic, data-driven methodology, and a customer-centered approach to deliver impactful digital transformations.  Cross-functional teams, including developers, designers, and data scientists, collaborate closely, integrating DevOps practices for continuous integration and deployment to ensure that progress and innovation are a constant part of the working relationship. Data analytics and AI drive insights and automation and are a core tool in every decision to ensure that the choices made are supported by data and will provide meaningful results. The customer-centric approach focuses on continuous feedback loops so that the updates and enhancements of the roadmap are aligned with executive stakeholders. Publicis Sapient’s Digital Factory is a proven process that delivers change at scale.