A digital landscape at the next stage of development
The Zumtobel Group is one of Europe’s leading lighting groups. Its business model is internationally focused, brand-driven and strongly project-oriented. As the Group has grown, its digital landscape has also expanded organically over the years – featuring diverse websites, market-specific solutions and highly customised processes. This complexity increasingly became an operational challenge: managing the customer journey, scaling and consistent brand management were only possible with a high level of manual effort. Navigation, search and service processes followed different logics depending on the market, and e-commerce functionalities varied significantly.
A challenge for the Zumtobel Group
This brought one key question into sharp focus for those responsible for commerce and digital operations:
How can an expansive digital landscape be transformed into a scalable platform that brings brand management and international growth even closer together in the future?
Specifically, the goal was to take the next step in development: How can the Zumtobel and Thorn brands be brought to life digitally in a way that reflects their strengths? Management’s objective was therefore clearly defined: to create a robust, scalable commerce and content platform that guides customers, enables self-service, and serves as a sustainable digital foundation for the long term.
Strategic guidelines: Thinking about CX, brands and platforms as a whole
Together with SYBIT, we launched much more than an isolated digital project; rather, it was a strategic platform initiative. At its heart lay fundamental key questions:
- How can the online presence of two strong brands be clearly managed whilst being orchestrated on a shared platform?
- How do you combine B2B processes with B2C-style expectations regarding user guidance and self-service?
- How can we relieve the burden on sales and service through digital processes without increasing complexity?
- How can we scale commerce and experience across more than 20 markets?
The path to achieving this followed a clear logic: business use cases first, architecture second. Customer experience as the end goal, the platform as the enabler.
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The Solution: A Multi-Brand Commerce Platform with Clear Operational Logic
The result is a modular multi-brand platform that seamlessly integrates brand management, commerce, and self-service—while being deliberately designed for long-term scalability.
Clear brand worlds, consistent user experience
Users initially navigate within the respective brand world of Zumtobel or Thorn—each with its own tone, visual identity, and product logic. However, navigation, interaction patterns, and page structure follow a unified experience framework. This reduces complexity, facilitates switching between brands, and creates brand recognition across all markets.
One login, many role models
A central login forms the basis for differentiated role and usage concepts. Dealers, electricians, planners, architects, and project-driven customers each receive the functions, content, and services relevant to their role. The platform precisely controls who can see and do what—thereby creating a scalable foundation for self-service.
The Neutral Workspace as the Productive Core
After logging in, users are directed to a cross-brand, neutral workspace. All core functional elements are consolidated here:
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Shopping carts and orders
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Tools and Services
- Documents, settings, and project-related data
This separation of brand space and functional space is a key platform lever: it preserves brand identity while enabling efficient further development.
Integrated Search and Commerce Functionalities
A cross-brand search ensures quick navigation—regardless of which brand world the user is in. Commerce functions are seamlessly integrated and tailored based on roles and markets: ranging from complete ordering processes to information and offer functions. This creates a scalable commerce approach that accounts for different market conditions and levels of maturity.
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CX as a Product, Not a Project
One key principle shaped the program from the very beginning: customer experience was conceived as a product—not as a project with an end date. The platform was deliberately designed as a long-term foundation that is continuously refined.
Consulting Expertise as a Stabilizing Factor
The initiative’s success was due less to technical features than to a structured, methodical, and distinctly business-oriented approach. Early on, customer journeys were remapped, target groups were refined, and the emotional significance of the brands was systematically taken into account. This consulting work was the true linchpin of the project—it not only brought clarity to a complex set of brands, markets, and stakeholder groups, but also shortened decision-making processes, created shared visions, and made dependencies manageable at an early stage.
UX & Design: Exceptionally Effective
User Experience (UX) and design were not merely part of the process in this project, but were established as a strategic pillar from the outset. The Zumtobel Group understood from the very beginning that excellent user experiences can only emerge when design does not intervene at a later stage, but rather helps shape fundamental decisions from the start.
The design team was therefore involved from the early stages of the project—in workshops, in structuring the customer journey, in developing the brand strategy, and in the interplay between the brand world and the workspace. This early involvement was a key reason why the platform concept could later be implemented so clearly, harmoniously, and scalably.
Result: A scalable platform foundation with strategic added value
The platform is already successfully live in several countries and now serves as the central digital backbone of international market development. Click here to visit the new Zumtobel and Thorn platform: www.zumtobel.de www.thornlighting.de In the markets, it is perceived as a modern, brand-strong showcase. At the same time, structured self-service options, clear customer journeys, and integrated commerce functions reduce the workload on sales and service teams. Above all, however, the Zumtobel Group now has a digital foundation that enables growth, makes complexity manageable, and creates space for new services.
Together with SYBIT, we have built a digital foundation that can grow with us. It is not a standalone IT solution, but a platform that will support our brands, markets, and digital business models for the long term.
Success Story
What do you think of the Zumtobel Group’s experience with SAP and SYBIT?
Learn how the Zumtobel Group, in collaboration with SYBIT, built a scalable multi-brand commerce platform for the Zumtobel and Thorn brands. The result is a digital foundation that intelligently integrates brand management, commerce, content, and self-service features, and can be further developed on an international scale. Users benefit from clear customer journeys, role-based functions, cross-brand search, and more efficient service and sales processes.
Would you also like to take your digital sales, service, and content strategy to the next level? Our experts will help you develop scalable platforms that effectively combine brand strength, efficiency, and customer value.
Mail: sales@sybit.de
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