Gerolsteiner lays the foundation for personalized customer engagement
By integrating its app, website, and online shop, the mineral water brand is systematically expanding its digital consumer dialogue.
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The Project at a glance
Moving from indirect retail distribution to a direct, ongoing consumer dialogue
The challenge
Retailers stand between the brand and its consumers
Gerolsteiner is one of Germany's most recognized mineral water brands. However, because sales flow primarily through grocery stores and restaurants, a distribution partner almost always sits between the brand and the end consumer. As a result, direct customer relationships depend heavily on digital touchpoints-making those touchpoints all the more critical.
Gerolsteiner's app, website, and web shop offer prime opportunities to better understand consumer preferences and behavior. Yet until recently, user data remained trapped in separate systems. A consumer using the app and later placing an order in the online shop could not be identified as the same person. Lacking a single view of past interactions, the marketing team struggled to engage target audiences consistently across channels.
The solution
Turning individual touchpoints into a genuine customer relationship
Partnering with 4brands Reply, Gerolsteiner built a central customer data platform that connects its app, website, and online shop. A single sign-on (SSO) system identifies users across every channel, consolidating their interactions into a single, unified profile-fully compliant with their privacy preferences.
This 360-degree view makes customer data instantly actionable for marketing. Gerolsteiner can now segment target audiences with high precision, align multi-channel campaigns, and tailor communication based on previous interactions and user interests.
The Technology
Three core building blocks behind the unified customer view
To turn scattered digital signals into actionable marketing insights, the underlying architecture integrates three key components:
Centralized identity and consent management
SAP Customer Data Cloud manages cross-channel log-ins while centralizing user identities and consent preferences. This establishes clear, compliant rules for how profile data is assigned and used.
Consolidating data into unified profiles
A composable Customer Data Platform powered by Azure Databricks merges information from the app, website, and online shop. Once-isolated data streams are transformed into clean, consistent profiles ready for audience segmentation and analytics.
Translating data directly into communication
To ensure these insights translate directly into campaign execution, 4brands Reply migrated the brand's marketing automation setup from SAP Marketing Cloud to SAP Engagement Cloud. This allows unified profiles and audience segments to immediately feed into automated, personalized customer journeys.
The Impact
Building direct consumer relationships despite indirect sales channels
With its new platform, Gerolsteiner can recognize consumers across all digital channels and map their interactions into a seamless customer journey for the first time. Personalized communication can now be planned more accurately, automated smoothly, and continuously optimized. Beyond immediate marketing benefits, the architecture provides a flexible, future-proof foundation to add new channels, use cases, and personalization strategies over time.
The key benefits at a glance
A complete, unified view of consumer activity across app, web, and shop
Sharper target audience segmentation and tailored customer communication
Faster rollout of automated marketing campaigns and personalized journeys
Centralized, consistent management of user identities and privacy consents
A scalable foundation built to integrate future channels and personalization strategies
Gerolsteiner Brunnen is one of Germany’s leading mineral water brands and a household name for high-quality soft drinks. Its portfolio spans premium still and sparkling mineral waters as well as a wide range of non-alcoholic beverages, distributed extensively across retail and food service channels. Combining a rich heritage with a firm commitment to quality and sustainability, Gerolsteiner continues to shape the German beverage market.
4brands Reply is an industry expert in the consumer goods sector, combining analytics, consulting, and systemfinc integration into a holistic approach. With extensive SAP expertise and innovative, data-driven technologies, we create seamless and flexible end-to-end processes that future-proof your business. In addition to modern data and CX solutions, our offering also includes integrated planning in all its facets: from corporate and demand planning to account and promotion planning. We leverage deep AI expertise to optimise your processes - always with the goal of strengthening your brand and creating an outstanding customer experience.