The largest retail chain in Serbia and a member of the international Ahold Delhaize chain, Delhaize Serbia has more than 480 stores throughout the nation. As a market leader, the business has made it a strategic priority to be an innovator that consistently offers customers a modern shopping experience. Delhaize Serbia made the decision to create a loyalty application called “My Maxi” based on Microsoft Azure with an omnichannel business strategy and a goal to offer customers/ shoppers cutting-edge advantages that match their personal shopping habits.
Monthly, more than a million of customers visit the stores that are part of this retail chain, which continuously invests in modernization and innovation with the aim of providing them with the highest quality shopping experience according to the latest standards.
In order to achieve this, it was necessary to get to know the customers’ habits even better, and for that, the company realized it needed a cloud-based digital solution, so the team approached their long-time partner Microsoft. Together, the partners created a loyalty application that raised the shopping experience to a digital level, bringing all users a variety of personalized benefits and discounts for everyday purchases.
Taking the shopping experience to the next level
With Microsoft’s constant support throughout the entire project, Delhaize Serbia successfully developed My Maxi loyalty app—locally and from scratch—within six months.
“Microsoft gave us a good proposal for the Azure platform and accommodated it to suit the processes and structures we would need. We also held weekly meetings with technical experts who would address our concerns and provide solutions or explanations,” says Dragoljub Jovković, IT Director at Delhaize Serbia. In his opinion, their knowledge of cloud technology has grown thanks to this journey with the Microsoft team.
Based on Microsoft Azure services, with Azure API Management and NET Core as a development tool, the company can now reach out to customers in a more effective and efficient way.
“Before we could only show a few hundred special offers prepared for our customers through different channels. But now, with “My Maxi”, they can view thousands of different promotions”, adds Nikola Zečević, Chief Digital Officer at Delhaize Serbia.
The loyalty app was first launched in just one city, Kragujevac, in Serbia but grew in national popularity quickly.
“We gained 300,000 users within a few weeks after the national launch and, in a couple of months, half a million users started enjoying the benefits of “My Maxi” app, and that number continues to grow. The app is also inclusive, as not only the younger population uses it. Initially, we were worried that our older customers wouldn’t be interested in the app. But now, we’re proud to say that 20 percent of our users are more than 55 years old.” says Zečević.
All the data collected from the app is transformed into useful insights through Power BI reporting. With these insights, Delhaize Serbia can now build a better relationship with its customers as well as offer other services to ease the shopping experience. Users of the “My Maxi” app can now enjoy personalized promotions, additional discounts, and numerous benefits with their daily purchases.
The future of digital transformation looks bright
Having seen how the app has worked so well on a cloud platform, Delhaize Serbia plans to explore more cloud technology.
“Next year, we will migrate the entire project to Azure DevOps to in order to ensure even more impeccable operation of the My Maxi app,” says Žarko Jovanović, Team manager for local applications at Delhaize Serbia.
The company continues its digital transformation, which it believes will propel it forward into the future.
“We believe it’s important to continuously improve our technical capabilities in order to be even more effective in all areas of business. This is just the first step, and we’re glad to have Microsoft’s support on all levels,” concludes Jovković.
