Wholesale specialist METRO teams up with Ciklum to launch innovative B2B online marketplace
London UK, 29 October 2019 – METRO’s new B2B online marketplace for the HoReCa (hotel, restaurant, catering) sector has launched in Germany following a joint development project by its subsidiary METRO Markets and global digital experts Ciklum. Through this additional sales channel, METRO is significantly expanding their range of non-food products and services by not only offering from their own range, but also opening up the platform to partner sellers. METRO aims to make this new platform the largest and most relevant online marketplace for HoReCa customers in Europe.
With the new partner sellers in mind, the user experience of this innovative new platform was designed from the ground up to support bulk purchasing from multiple suppliers. Buyers have a frictionless purchasing experience with a one stop shop, whilst sellers benefit from quick onboarding, price adjustment functionalities to remain competitive, and access to an extensive customer base.
Ciklum and METRO Markets built the new B2B commerce platform end-to-end within only nine months. The project was delivered on time by applying Agile and DevOps best practices in cross-functional teams located in Germany and Ukraine.
The METRO marketplace was launched in Germany in September 2019 and following a successful pilot, is set to roll out to other European countries. To date, more than 70 partner sellers are using the platform, and more than 65,000 non-food articles are on offer. The platform is available at https://www.metro.de/marktplatz.
“Through the platform developed with Ciklum, METRO is expanding its services by supporting both traditional brick-and-mortar business as well as providing a fully-fledged digital service for a wider customer base,” states Philipp Blome, CEO at METRO Markets. “This pioneering marketplace changes the way the HoReCa sector buys and sells to one another, with a frictionless transactional experience that delivers benefits to our partners and customers.”
“It has been exciting to work with METRO on what is set to be a major disruption to the HoReCa industry across Europe,” says Kulraj Smagh, Chief Delivery Officer at Ciklum. “By working in close partnership, using cutting edge agile techniques and an innovative approach, we were able to provide METRO with a unique, high-performing product with significantly reduced time to market.”
Ciklum is a global Digital Solutions Company for Fortune 500 and fast-growing organisations alike around the world. The company is headquartered in London and has software development centers and branch offices in the United States, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Israel, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, UAE and Pakistan. Ciklum builds tailored digital solutions that leverage emerging technologies for such clients as Just Eat, Flixbus, Mercedes Pay, EFG International, Zurich Insurance, Lottoland and others. For more information visit www.ciklum.com.
METRO Markets was founded in the summer of 2018 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of METRO, a leading international specialist for wholesale and food. METRO Markets is responsible for the development and operation of a B2B online marketplace especially designed for HoReCa customers (hotel, restaurant, catering). Through this additional sales channel, METRO not only offers non-food products from its own assortment, but other partners can also sell their product ranges through this channel. The METRO marketplace was launched in Germany first and can be called up via the country specific domain www.metro.de. If the pilot run is successful, it is to be followed by roll-outs in further European countries. With this new platform, the wholesale specialist METRO is further expanding its digital offering for independent restaurateurs. For more information visit www.metro-markets.de
METRO is a leading international wholesale company with food and non-food assortments that specialises in serving the needs of hotels, restaurants and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent traders. Around the world, METRO has some 24 million buying customers who can choose whether to shop in one of the large-format stores, order online and collect their purchases at the store or have them delivered. METRO in addition also supports the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and freelancers with digital solutions and thereby contributes to cultural diversity in retail and hospitality. Sustainability is a key pillar of METRO’s business. METRO has been the sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last four years. The company operates in 36 countries and employs more than 150,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2017/18, METRO generated sales of €36.5 billion. In September 2018 METRO AG initiated the divestment process for the food retail chain Real with its 34,000 employees.