Varsego consists of 22 different distributors across the country, originally individual GB Glace distributors. They joined forces in 2009 and today have a network of nearly 450 employees, bringing ice cream to everyone from Kiruna in the north to Simrishamn in the south—and everywhere in between. Besides ice cream, Varsego offers a range of top-selling products from leading brands in beverages, confectionery, protein products, fast food, and baked goods—collectively known as on-the-go products.
Manual work took far too much time
Kimberline Calderon, Sales and Marketing Coordinator at Varsego, oversees the website and webshop. She explains how Varsego’s e-commerce journey began and why they decided to switch platforms:
“We needed to simplify and automate the manual work in order management, and we wanted to attract new customers and improve the customer experience. Ensuring reliable information was essential. It’s crucial that product details and prices are updated consistently across all systems. But with our existing systems, adding or removing products required us to manually enter new information, which was time-consuming. Updating both our business system and the webshop took several manual steps. With the right technology, this could be automated for a much faster process.”
Existing customers also wanted features like favorites lists and stock availability. We aimed to revamp our website to reach a broader customer base, increase order value, and stand out from competitors.
Holistic solution made the difference
To make an informed choice, Varsego met with various providers to evaluate their platforms. Varsego focused on finding a solution that could handle the complexity of a large number of frequently updated products and a customer base of around 18,000. Therefore, a robust PIM (Product Information Management) system was crucial.
“It’s vital for us to have consistent information across all platforms, so a good PIM system was essential for future-proofing and streamlining our operations. With so many applications and potential integrations, it was a key factor in our choice of provider and solution.”
Ultimately, they chose Litium as their platform. Kimberline explains why:
“We chose Litium for several reasons. Primarily, it was ready to connect to our business system. Litium’s integrated PIM, e-commerce platform, and CMS made it the perfect choice from the start. The comprehensive solution was a decisive factor for us.”
Sales increased by over 20% in the first year
Today, Varsego has a state-of-the-art e-commerce site focused on customer needs. Customers can easily view the product range and active campaigns, while Varsego can tailor content based on customer type.
“Our goal was to create a user-friendly and inspiring webshop that works for all our customers, regardless of their background. With new features, our updated design, and the ability to tailor content by customer type, we’ve truly enhanced the customer experience,” says Kimberline, adding:
“With our new site, we’ve reached a larger customer base, increased order value, and gained competitive advantages as the only one among our competitors to allow customers to register, place orders, and pay by card in one place.”
“Another great benefit is the improved ability to track stats and figures. Less than a year after launching, customer numbers have increased by 22%, and total webshop sales are up by 38%—and these numbers keep growing,” Kimberline continues.
Their goal is for over 50% of customers to shop online within the next year, and it looks like they are on track.
Strength in close cooperation with the right technical partner
Toxic Interactive Solutions AB is Varsego’s technical partner for business development, project management, design, and development, helping to build the solution with Litium according to their needs.
“We’re now planning, together with Toxic, how to develop and optimize our business even further. Toxic is quick to respond and attentive to changes, and they’re genuinely passionate about what they do. We also feel they highly value us as a customer, which has led to an excellent partnership,” Kimberline concludes.
Want to know more about Varsego and their journey, solution, results, and the impact of their new e-commerce? Watch the film by Toxic here (in Swedish).