Altınyıldız Classics transforms its customer journey with Azure-powered e-commerce platform

Altınyıldız Classics is one of Türkiye’s biggest men’s clothing brands. Founded in 1952 under Boyner Group, the company grew exponentially after it started to centrally manage sales online in 2011. “Today we have 185 stores in Türkiye and 50 stores abroad,” says Uluğ. The company strives to create male outfits that express Türkiye’s elegance, modernity, and values. 

Building a future-proof e-commerce platform

Altınyıldız Classics has always championed technology to better meet its customers’ needs. When customers realized how convenient it was to shop online during the COVID-19 pandemic, they continued doing so even after restrictions were lifted. Altınyıldız Classics knew it had to keep up with that change. “The shopping experience we offer has to be as fast, secure, and easy as in the actual store,” says Uluğ.

However, its legacy e-commerce platform wasn’t sustainable anymore. “As our traffic increased 10 times, so did our cloud computing costs,” recalls Uluğ. “That’s why our CEO Enis Habif suggested building a fast, secure e-commerce platform of our own—something that would scale with us for years to come and help us adapt to rapidly changing business needs.”

Altınyıldız Classics approached an application modernization partner, CloudCan, to help choose the right solution and build a proof of concept. “We decided to go with Microsoft as it offered constant technical support, cost optimization, and advanced cloud capabilities,” says Uluğ. “We worked shoulder to shoulder with the Microsoft and CloudCan teams to test and build a new environment. The Microsoft team generously shared their expertise and insights to help us fast-track our use of the cloud.” The entire process was supported by Microsoft initiatives like the Azure Migration and Modernization Program for receiving expertise, Cloud Adoption Framework Virtual Workshops and the Enterprise Skills Initiative for upskilling employees.

Better experience for e-shoppers, lower operational costs

On August 23rd, 2022, Altınyıldız Classics launched a modernized, faster e-commerce platform powered by Microsoft Azure and Azure Kubernetes Services. “The cloud infrastructure is simpler and better designed, making the user experience smoother for us and the customers. Our website now takes almost 3 seconds to load instead of seven, and the app can handle 2.5 times more traffic,” says Uluğ. 

By easily controlling and improving every aspect of the customer’s journey, the company gained a competitive advantage and started building awareness and loyalty among users. Uluğ describes, “The e-commerce platform has enabled us to manage the entire shopping experience in one place—everything from supply chain management and quality control to shipping. That has helped us reduce costs and increase our capacity.” 

With more operational efficiency, Altınyıldız Classics saw profits rise as well. “Our online store now accounts for seven percent of our sales,” says Uluğ. “As we improved our website performance, we also increased our sales and conversion rates. Ultimately, by building our own solution, we are able to respond to changing customer demands and have endless possibilities for improvement.”