Global enterprise: one platform, China included
Explore how a global company replaced a long-standing in-house ecommerce system with a composable platform supporting regional commerce requirements, centralized governance, and a dedicated deployment for China.
In short
A global manufacturer in a highly technical domain ran its ecommerce on an in-house platform for more than a decade; revenue had more than doubled while the platform stayed largely unchanged. With a system integrator, it replaced that system with a composable architecture on Virto Commerce: one global commerce core, regional storefronts with their own pricing, tax and shipping rules, a headless CMS for content-rich product pages and a dedicated China deployment on Virto Cloud. The 18+ month program ended in a DNS-switch go-live and two weeks of hypercare, with 50+ modules deployed and hundreds of internal users kept on familiar workflows.
From the start, our goal wasn't to build separate ecommerce platforms for different regions. We needed a single global digital foundation that could scale across all our operations, including China, while still respecting local requirements.
Challenge: a decade-old in-house platform
The organization's internally developed ecommerce platform had supported the business for more than a decade, but maintaining and extending it required increasing effort. New functionality took longer to deliver, mobile capabilities were limited, and content-rich product experiences were difficult to manage at global scale.
The three strategic priorities for the transformation were:
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Replace the legacy system with a modern, externally supported platform
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Preserve regional business logic without creating separate commerce platforms
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Improve content delivery, mobile usability, and enterprise system integration
Solution: one composable core, regional rules
Virto Commerce became the transactional and integration foundation for a composable architecture designed to support global operations and local market requirements.
Composable commerce core: Virto Commerce provides shared transactional capabilities, centralized governance, and consistent integration patterns across regional storefronts.
Global and China deployment: Virto Cloud supports multi-region infrastructure, including a dedicated China deployment designed around local performance, network, and regulatory requirements.
Independent content delivery: A headless CMS architecture allows content and frontend experiences to evolve without destabilizing core transactional logic.
Internal operational tools: Custom applications built with VC Shell allow internal teams to manage orders, product availability, and specialized workflows within the same governed platform.
Result: replaced without breaking workflows
The company replaced its long-standing legacy platform while preserving established workflows, rich content, and familiar experiences for hundreds of internal users.
The new architecture also reduced pressure on internal support teams, made content updates easier, and enabled regional storefronts to evolve while relying on a shared commerce foundation.
Business Benefits from a Composable Global Foundation
- Less maintenance pressure on internal engineering teams
- Faster and simpler content updates
- Regional flexibility without separate commerce platforms
- Lower deployment and operational risk
- Integrated tools for internal teams
- Scalable foundation for future customer-facing capabilities
