Foodstuffs boosts digital agility and efficiency with Sitecore

Foodstuffs New Zealand has more than 500 stores across the country and operates as a co-operative owned by its member grocers. The co-operative’s websites have an important role in promoting its multiple brands and plethora of products. To provide the content for these websites, Foodstuffs New Zealand needs to manage hundreds of thousands of digital assets.

With these assets distributed across multiple isolated locations, however, it was difficult for marketing teams to find what they needed. Assets were stored on a combination of on-premises file servers and digital repositories, so files often had to be emailed on request, which was inefficient and time-consuming. Manual asset management processes also impacted collaboration, both internally and with external agencies. Teams were sometimes unaware of the assets available, and which was the latest version, which led to errors and duplication of effort.

Foodstuffs has been using Sitecore to underpin its 10 corporate and ecommerce sites since 2019. The Sitecore platform was selected for its multi-tenancy capabilities and scalability, and deployed working with Sitecore partner AKQA. Following that success, Foodstuffs added Sitecore Content Hub DAM to streamline management of its digital assets. AKQA helped Foodstuffs implement the solution, migrate more than 700,000 digital assets, and integrate the solution seamlessly within its digital environment.

Sitecore Content Hub DAM is now integrated with the co-operative’s single sign-on authentication system to simplify user access, and its PIM (product information management) system so all product images are available directly via Content Hub. In addition, Adobe Creative Suite could be connected seamlessly, helping to streamline content production processes.

The Sitecore solution transforms asset lifecycle management. It’s AI-powered auto-tagging enhances content discoverability through integration with Microsoft’s Vision AI system, as well as built-in version control and comprehensive digital rights management (DRM). The Sitecore DAM provides a single source of truth for all Foodstuffs’ digital assets across its brands and complex product ranges, which are used on the 10 Sitecore websites, social, and advertising channels.

With a fully integrated customer experience platform, Foodstuffs New Zealand now has the strong digital foundations it needs to support efficiency, agility, and growth. Sitecore Content Hub, for example, has transformed workflows for marketing teams. The ability to easily find and use digital assets, regardless of geographical location, enables greater collaboration between internal teams and with external agencies. It has also increased the re-use and modification of existing assets, and improved digital rights management. When Foodstuffs New Zealand originally deployed Sitecore, the co-operative moved from app-only commerce to processing millions of dollars’ worth of grocery orders via its websites.

The implementation proved invaluable when Foodstuffs experienced a 700% increase in website traffic, which was handled seamlessly by scaling in the cloud. Standardizing on Sitecore for web delivery also helps Foodstuffs to launch new sites 25% faster than before, thanks to a library of templated components built within the solution. With a single source of truth for its digital assets and a headless approach, Foodstuffs has paved the way for further digital modernization.