• Publio.pl, Agora’s online bookstore that has been operating or 8 years, underwent a major digital transformation in 2020.
• Experts from Unity Group and Ideacto responsible for the improvements predicted the growing needs of users and technological challenges, including those resulting from exceptional traffic spikes in online channels triggered by pandemic-related restrictions.
• There are still at least a few dozen, if not hundreds of thousands, of businesses in Poland that need to go through the digital transformation process at an accelerated pace and transfer their operations to the web.

The year 2020 has challenged companies in terms of maintaining business continuity and responding to the changing environment at an increasing speed. The pandemic crisis proved that companies that are able to navigate the e-market flexibly and agilely will come out of difficult situations unscathed. Smooth operations in electronic channels are now an absolute must-have. They provide a chance to move beyond just meeting the expectations of current customers, allowing your business to gain new ones and stay ahead of the competition.

For years we have been focusing on digital business transformation services, including e-commerce, which is currently in high demand. Until now, clients have been preparing themselves for the increased traffic only during Black Friday and Christmas. Many companies have treated electronic channels as complementary to traditional ones.

The pandemic has forced business owners to do their digitalization homework earlier. Those who took care of this many years ago and who are constantly optimizing their electronic channels have emerged from the current crisis victorious. We now help our customers to increase the efficiency of their systems and ensure their reliability. In the process of e-shifting we support, among others, RTV Euro AGD, LPP and Publio.pl.

– says Grzegorz Rudno-Rudziński, Managing Partner at Unity Group.

Online business is the future

Agora, which created Publio.pl in 2012, has been cooperating with Unity Group for several years. It was this IT company, which is the leader of the Polish digital transformation market, that built the e-bookstore, providing parallel maintenance and development services for the online store.

In order to further develop Publio.pl, in 2018 we decided that we needed to carry out another redesign of the store. Our goal was mainly to eliminate the division into the “heavy”/”light” website and platform in the RWD version, taking into account the requirements of the mobile first approach.

– says Mirosław Sroka, Publio.pl business development director.

The original plan to rebuild Publio.pl only involved rebuilding the front of the e-bookstore, but Unity Group convinced the client to make a fundamental change. A new store was created, written in a different technology. Several hundred processes were rewritten or written anew.

Unity Group’s clear advantage is its team with a wide range of skills. It is formed by great developers, analysts and system administrators who, in a crisis situation, are able to retain focus and find an optimal solution thanks to their knowledge and experience. These people understand the client’s needs and adapt flexibly to the situation. The whole Unity Group crew deserves a lot of appreciation and thanks for carrying out such a complicated process as the recent changes at Publio.pl.

– adds Mirosław Sroka.

Thanks to an in-depth analysis of user needs and market standards carried out by the IDEACTO User Experience agency involved in the project, an “easy to use” e-bookstore was built. The front of Publio.pl gained a modern look, but in such a way that most of the customers had no problems with finding their way with the new website.

We started our cooperation with Publio.pl with a thorough study of the existing store, performing a comprehensive usability audit. Using the technique of cognitive walkthrough, the UX specialist made the analysis by playing the role of the user, going through the most important processes within the platform. Our UI designers designed the interface in accordance with the results of the analysis and research phase, customer expectations and market standards. Publio.pl was set to introduce an intensive, engaging visual language, which would clearly distinguish the store from the competition.

– says Wiktor Lipiński, Lead UX in IDEACTO, Unity Group’s partner in the project.

Why go digital?

The e-transformation of other industries is inevitable. According to research, the digital economy in Poland grew by 18.4% between January and May 2020, i.e. 2.5 times faster compared to the average growth in 2017-2019 (according to McKinsey & Company). As many as 82% of Polish companies have recently carried out technological transformation or are considering it (Deloitte report “2020 Global Technology Leadership Study”). This percentage is higher than the global market’s value of 79%. The main reasons why companies are carrying out such changes are to avoid disruptions (caused, for example, by the COVID-19 pandemic), increase their competitive advantage (24%), improve their market position (23%) and implement a new operating model (22%). Unity Group’s activities are in line with these megatrends. The company’s primary goal is to continuously help improve its customers’ business operations, innovate in commerce and make life easier for users around the world.