At this year's Smart Variant.CON, Holger Reimsbach, Consultant Digital Business, impressed the audience in the packed auditorium with his sympathetic presentation on "How To Sell Complex Stuff Online (Fast) - The Interaction of CPQ and E-Commerce". He skillfully linked theory and practice by providing the audience with a guideline, which was practically supported by live demos, including the web store solutions implemented for the world market leader in the field of flexible metallic equipment Witzenmann and the internationally active technology group VOITH.

What is needed on the way to digital commerce? First of all, companies with a wide range of configurable products should dismiss viewing configure-price-quote (CPQ) and e-commerce as competing channels. After all, the interaction of the two areas not only grants sales more time for complex consulting activities away from quotation generation. With regard to the topic of customer centricity, it also favors the optimization of the customer journey and maximizes the efficiency of sales processes. In addition to determining customer needs and technical requirements, the digital commerce roadmap also guarantees success by developing a prototype and a minimum viable product (MVP). Provided with a large pinch of consistency and the will to optimize, nothing stands in the way of the sustainable success of a digital commerce solution. Holger aptly summarizes the importance of the last two ingredients: "Digital commerce is not a project that ends at some point. To ensure that the customer uses the store in the long term, we must always keep their feedback in mind and optimize our solution accordingly."