Localized customer experiences—on a global scale

Creating localized experiences across multiple geographies can be difficult for multinational technology companies. Take HP Inc., for example. As a global manufacturer of personal computers and print devices, HP Inc. tackles challenges to provide localized products and services to cities around the world.

HP’s Asia-Pacific division alone plays host to over 3,000 employees from more than 35 countries, who work in a 450,000 square-foot campus. There, the company manufactures 3D printers that can even print their own replacement parts. But for all its blue-sky thinking, HP Inc., needed a down-to-earth sales initiative. To achieve rapid online growth, they needed to launch an “online-to-offline” sales effort to increase foot traffic in its brick-and-mortar stores.

“It was important to deliver initial wins across Asia and Latin America, showcasing full control over the customer experience,” said Herriot Stobo, director of Omnichannel Innovation and Solutions for HP Asia-Pacific. “We needed agility across multiple segments of the platform, and a sustainable cost structure that would pave the way for our global deployment plan.”

More precisely, HP Asia-Pacific needed to launch multiple regional stores—in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Peru—on just one platform. They also wanted to offer a “Click & Collect” feature to allow customers to purchase a printer or PC online and collect it in-store, while offering in-store customers an “endless aisle” assortment online.

Localized commerce

In 2013, HP Asia-Pacific deployed its first Magento Commerce (now Adobe Commerce) web stores in Thailand and Indonesia using Magento Commerce 1. When they launched a store in China, they decided to make the leap to Magento Commerce 2. With customers ranging from individual shoppers looking for the perfect home printer to small businesses, HP Asia-Pacific needed an agile e-commerce solution that could get them to market quickly in multiple geographies and customer touchpoints, while allowing them to test and iterate at a fast pace.

Using one Adobe Commerce Cloud instance to support multiple stores across different regions allowed each store to offer a uniquely local experience and appeal to customers from different e-commerce cultures. HP Asia-Pacific designed a three-tiered structure based on an Adobe Commerce Cloud core, delivering common site navigation, page templates, dashboards, and security to customers across different regions.

Layered on top of the structure is HP’s omnichannel functionality, project management, content strategies, and customer 360 integration. Its regional hubs then deliver localized products and services, including payments, fulfillment logistics, language, and order management capabilities.

This flexible structure allows HP to control the overall e-commerce elements, while empowering regions and countries to meet the individual, local market needs of customers. In other words, Adobe Commerce Cloud empowers HP to make its global commerce experience feel local. An added layer of personalization comes via product recommendations powered by Adobe Sensei, which HP uses to tailor its customer experience and drive conversions at scale.

Physical and digital integration

HP Asia-Pacific also tested its Click & Collect experience in India and Hong Kong. HP’s project team in Singapore piloted HP Click & Collect in 23 stores in India. They will soon roll out the solution across 700 stores. After a four-month pilot in New Delhi, 26 percent of consumer PC customers preferred to pick up their new PC in a local store versus delivery, increasing valuable foot traffic and saving on shipping costs.

HP’s e-commerce launch in Hong Kong included consumer, small business, and employee purchase programs. The new Hong Kong platform also integrates retail point-of-sale systems and allows customers to visit the website to book in-store demos.

Following its success in the Asia-Pacific region, HP is replicating this approach to spin up web stores in other regions of the world, most recently launching e-commerce in Mexico. Stobo and the project teams in Singapore, Barcelona, and throughout the U.S. have rolled out Adobe Commerce across 41 markets worldwide to date.

Next up, HP plans to launch e-commerce instances to support its direct sales efforts in 14 countries across North America, Europe, and Japan. 

This content was produced by Adobe. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff.