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Customer Story

Dutch Coffee Giant Jacobs Douwe Egberts Rapidly Transforms eCommerce Operations

Jacobs Douwe Egberts achieves a 20% faster time-to-market and develops skills to thrive in a fast paced eCommerce market using Agile
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Related services
Agile

Industry
Retail

Company
Xebia

For more than 265 years, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) has provided high quality coffees and teas through trusted brands. From its humble beginnings as a small family business, the company has grown to distribute products in more than 100 countries through a portfolio of over 50 brands including Senseo, L’OR, Jacobs, Pickwick, Tassimo, and Douwe Egberts. These brands build on the diverse stories and histories of the cultures in which they operate. A subsidiary of JDE Peet’s, JDE is headquartered in the Netherlands.
Why
Adapt to the fast-paced eCommerce market
What
Prioritize projects based on their value-add and use a coaching leadership approach to fully leverage talent
How
A multidisciplinary approach using Agile

Learning to Keep Up

To keep pace with the rapidly changing eCommerce market, JDE needed to prioritize its robust project list and learn how to act faster. With a young team facing a steep learning curve, the company needed outside expertise. “I don’t know of any company that managed to accomplish such a dramatic change in such a short period of time,” Global eCommerce Director Ludovic Auffret said reflecting on the experience, “We made the right decision to start working Agile. Because of that, and with the help of Xebia, our speed and ability to adapt has radically increased, without losing anyone in the process.”

Finding a Way Forward

Overwhelmed by over 180 projects that needed to be carried out, JDE turned to Xebia for help managing the process. “A new kind of leadership has emerged; one that removes obstacles and helps with prioritization,” said Auffret, “The overall engagement has significantly improved because everyone has to continually deliver value, contribute new ideas, and make decisions as a team. The entire process is now more sustainable, personally enriching, and adaptive. It has made work more fun while also creating growth for the business.”

“The process was really hands-on and showed us the unused potential we had available. Xebia’s combination of Agile strategy and Agile implementation makes it unique. They were definitely the right partner for such a huge, time-constrained business challenge.”
JDE Logo
Ludovic Auffret JDE Global eCommerce Director

Changing with the Times

To stay relevant in a constantly evolving marketplace, immediately increasing the speed of operations was crucial to JDE’s continued success. Auffret describes how the company culture has shifted, “With Agile people no longer develop in a single role or function. They achieve much broader growth by working together on shared, complex issues.” Peter Vogel, JDE’s Head of Technology and eCommerce Operations, adds, “This journey is by no means over and we are constantly adapting to be ‘fit for the future.’ We continue to improve ourselves.”

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