Going first on Maestro: how Vitusapotek built a future-ready online pharmacy
Vitusapotek is one of Norway's largest pharmacy chains. In April it launched a new vitusapotek.no built on Pearl Maestro and SAP Commerce Cloud, as the first customer on the platform. Erik Magnuson, Head of eCommerce, talks about why they chose it, what the work involved and what is still ahead.
Online sales of pharmacy products are on the rise in the Norwegian market. For Norsk Medisinaldepot (NMD), which owns Vitusapotek, e-commerce is a strategic focus for the coming years.
"Unlike many other e-commerce segments, pharmacy products are growing fast online. We expect that to continue, and it's an important area for us," says Erik Magnuson.
Time to future-proof
The previous site had served Vitusapotek well for many years.
"Today, websites are built by connecting different services. It's a much more composable approach," says Erik.
Customer expectations had also changed. Most visitors now arrive on mobile and expect fast search and a smooth checkout. Upgrading the previous platform was discussed, but most of the team felt it was important to aim for the future.
A partner that knew both SAP and e-commerce
NMD runs on SAP, and replacing it was never on the table. The new partner had to combine deep SAP expertise with modern e-commerce.
“We quickly noticed it was hard to find suppliers of modern storefront solutions who were also strong on SAP. Most things pointed to Pearl.”
Around the same time, Pearl introduced Maestro, its composable storefront for SAP Commerce. Pearl was already a supplier to NMD. Choosing Maestro meant Vitusapotek would be the first customer on it.
“We knew Pearl well and they knew us. The nervous part was being the first customer on their new solution. After a thorough process we felt confident enough to go first.”
Thorough groundwork
The project began with a thorough insight phase. Teams from Vitusapotek and Pearl went through the previous site feature by feature. They decided what to keep, what to rebuild and what to drop. The documentation ran to several hundred pages.
Much of the migration was automated, and product data came directly from SAP. Vitusapotek also has a large library of health and advice articles. Moving that much content into Sanity, the new CMS, took some manual work as well.
When the new site went live in April, it worked from the first minute. Customers could find products, pay and choose delivery straight away.
“We launched a working site, and people could shop right away. It was a smooth start.”
Since launch, the team has kept refining the site in regular releases.
What customers notice
Erik points to the mobile experience first. Product pages are designed for mobile. Filtering and sorting by price and brand have been upgraded. Checkout is quicker, with Vipps directly in the basket and Klarna as an option.
The biggest change is in search. The new site uses Algolia, which learns from what people search for and click on.
“Many visitors start their session with a search. They're looking for something specific. The better we match what they want, the better. Now we can fine-tune the search engine more precisely.”
Accessibility in the code
Universal design was a firm requirement from the start. It means that a website should work for everyone, including people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive impairments. A blind customer using a screen reader should be able to find a product and complete a purchase just as easily as anyone else. New EU accessibility rules now also apply in Norway, and authorities can audit websites to check compliance.
“In our dialogue with Pearl it was very important that the new site had to be universally designed for all our customers' needs. Everyone had to take that seriously.”
In practice, this meant code that a screen reader can make sense of, along with correct contrast and structure. Vitusapotek's UX lead and external accessibility consultants tested the new solution together with Pearl.
A foundation for what's next
“You're never done. That's how this industry works,” says Erik.
The difference now is the starting point. Maestro is composable, so the team can add, replace or improve one service at a time without touching the rest. The new website is built to grow.
Next up is a new prescription module, where customers log in with BankID to collect their prescriptions. It is being built with external partners, and Pearl is integrating it into Maestro. After that comes online payment for click and collect, which most customers choose today. The team also plans to make fuller use of personalization.
Start earlier than you think
Erik's advice to companies facing a similar change is to look to the future and start early.
“In a large organization, big changes take time. Many people and systems are involved. Start while you still have room to do it properly.”
