Case
New e-commerce with Episerver Commerce for VetApotek.se
Evidensia is one of Europe's leading chains for veterinary care. When they decided to step up their digital presence and launch a new e-commerce site including an online pharmacy for pet owners, they chose Limetta. After several intensive sprints we have now launched VetApotek.se – Sweden's new e-commerce site and pharmacy for pet owners.
In addition to buying quality products for pets, such as food, supplements and accessories, pet owners can also have veterinarian-prescribed medications dispensed and delivered straight to their mailbox. VetApotek.se complements Evidensia's already broad digital presence, which among other things also includes MinVeterinar.se where pet owners can meet a veterinarian directly on their mobile. By strengthening its digital presence, Evidensia continues to help pet owners with advice and support on medications and animal health in a more accessible way.
The assignment
An online pharmacy has the same high demands for safety and quality as a traditional pharmacy, which means far higher safety and quality requirements than a typical webshop. Equally important for a successful e‑commerce is the user experience, and when it comes to care and medicines for our (sometimes most) beloved family members, the pets, a feeling of security and quality are decisive factors.
Evidensia wanted a future‑proof platform with the ability to further develop as needs grow. Our goal has been to make it possible to buy prescription veterinary medicines in a simple way, with the best possible user experience.
The launch of Vetapotek.se has been received overwhelmingly well and the e‑shop was named Newcomer of the Year by Prisjakt.se, which makes us extremely proud and happy!
Our assignment:
- Pre‑study including user research, competitor analysis and brand positioning.
- UX and web design.
- System development in Episerver Commerce and Episerver Find.
- Implementation of a PIM system (Product Information Management).
- Payment solution from Klarna and shipping via Unifaun.
- Integration with the national product & article register for medicines, VARA.
- Google Tag Manager with enhanced e‑commerce tracking.
- Good technical and on‑page SEO.
- Extensive testing and security work for approval by the Swedish eHealth Agency (eHälsomyndigheten).
Project methodology
- Agile approach with continuous deliveries and user testing.
- MVP focus and iterative development in sprints.
Work process
The decisive parameter in the project was time — time to market. Vetapotek.se operates in a competitive market that is rapidly digitizing. Furthermore, several different systems were involved, each with its own complexity. Because the service handles data coming from the eHealth Agency's services, very high demands were placed on security and system architecture.
We therefore chose early on to work with an MVP focus, that is, to launch features continuously rather than wait until all features and integrations were in place. Thanks to that we were able to quickly launch an initial version of the online store with simple over-the-counter goods while continuing the more extensive work in parallel to enable sales of prescription medicines.
Safe and secure customer experience
An important component of the customer journey is the user experience itself, which has been the focus throughout the design work. We started with thorough analysis and preparatory work to gain an overall understanding of what we wanted to achieve and what the fundamental needs and expectations from customers were.
We identified user types and scenarios so that we could develop features and interactions based on established principles and content. Once we had the foundation in place, we produced a first draft for structure and content.
Episerver as an ecosystem
We had a number of parameters to consider; among other things we faced challenges with a significantly shorter timeframe than most competitors had had for developing similar services. In addition, several different systems were involved, each with its own complexity. Because the service handles data coming from the Swedish eHealth Agency's services, very high demands were placed on security and architecture.
How we solved it technically
- Episerver Commerce
- Episerver Find
- Authentication via BankID
- Shipping booking via Unifaun
- Payment with Klarna
- Google Tag Manager with enhanced e-commerce tracking
- Import and export of product data
- Built in React
Technical platform
We built the solution around Episerver's ecosystem with features such as CMS, Commerce and Find (search) as well as Limetta's own PIM (Product Information Management).
The PIM handles the large number of items that VetApotek sells as well as the over 40,000 medicinal product items in the Swedish eHealth Agency's registry. We have built integrations to various data sources to bring in as much information about each item as possible. You can now find very rich product data here with linked resources such as images and different price details and sales channels.
To manage the connection between the eHealth Agency's services and Evidensia's prescription dispensing system, we developed a custom system to meet the information security requirements. Here information is protected using, among other things, multi-level encryption and strict separation between sub-environments. The security requirements throughout the project have been rigorous and we also had legal requirements to comply with regarding how information should be handled.
To make it easy for users to access their pets' prescriptions we chose to authenticate users using Mobile BankID. Shipping options are handled via Unifaun's dynamic shipping checkout and to make payments as smooth as possible we chose Klarna Checkout. Order management, shipping booking and payment are now as simple and automated as possible, which means minimized manual intervention and an overall improvement in Evidensia's business quality.
Fast and modern interface code
To achieve a fast, modern and dynamic interface we chose to develop in React, which is a JavaScript framework. It enables a very pleasant user experience, but has a downside when SEO and visibility in Google are important parameters. Google is reluctant to index content that requires multiple server calls to become visible and ranks static content higher.
Normally this is something we can work around by rendering JavaScript on the server, but this was not possible within the framework of the Episerver Commerce platform. So to solve this challenge we chose to insert a script tag that contains all the data needed to render the content (in the form of JSON data attached to the window object), which makes both the user and Google happy
About Vetapotek
VetApotek is part of Evidensia Veterinary Care and was founded in March 2018 to become your online pet pharmacy. At VetApotek you can find food and accessories for dogs, cats, horses and rodents - both in the form of pet food, toys and other items. VetApotek collaborates with Evidensia Veterinary Care and can therefore, thanks to its knowledge of animal care, help customers and their animals with quality products.
At VetApotek.se you will find food and accessories for dogs, cats, horses and rodents - both in the form of pet food, toys and other items. VetApotek collaborates with Evidensia Veterinary Care and can therefore, thanks to its knowledge of animal care, help customers and their animals with quality products.
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