Optimizing Digital Customer Experience in E-Commerce: Insights from Wärtsilä Online

One area that has seen significant transformation recently is digital customer experience (DCX) in e-commerce. Hautaviita (2025) researched how Wärtsilä, a Finnish industrial company, can improve its DCX on its e-commerce platform. In today's digital era, companies must constantly evolve to meet the ever-changing demands of their customers. Hence, companies are investing heavily in DCX to adapt to these expectations. Business-to-Business (B2B) buyers now expect rapid support and responses, like what Business-to-Consumer (B2C) customers have long received. Therefore, it is essential for B2B companies to embrace these changes to maintain their market position and deliver exceptional DCX.

This blogpost highlights the significance of DCX, key insights from Wärtsilä’s e-commerce case study, and the needed future developments for modern B2B buyers in e-commerce.

Why Digital Customer Experience Matters

Digital customer experience is an essential part of any company touchpoint digitally to its customers. Hence, delivering outstanding and seamless DCX, where users can browse products, seek support and create purchase orders, can result in increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, increase the revenue. For B2B organizations like Wärtsilä, where purchasing cycles are complex and involve multiple stakeholders, DCX is not just an option—it is a strategic decision.

Unlike B2C, B2B customers expect functional, efficient, and personalized experiences that address their business needs. With over 65% of B2B companies offering e-commerce channels and a strong shift away from traditional sales models, digital platforms have become the core of customer engagement. Metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES) are increasingly used to evaluate and improve these experiences.

Wärtsilä’s decision to invest in a DCX-focused transformation highlights the growing trend among industrial leaders to digitize customer interactions, implement agile development, and integrate customer feedback into continuous platform improvements.

Key Findings from Wärtsilä’s E-Commerce Platform

The thesis conducted a comprehensive case study using semi-structured interviews with eight Wärtsilä’s marine customers across Central Europe and the Nordics. The focus was on user experiences within the Wärtsilä Online platform.

Identified Challenges:

• Confusing Navigation: The navigation was seen as straightforward to use, but there were specific issues, what the customer commented, for example, the need for always selecting the vessel, when moving from each screen to another, currently if we create an order, we need to re-pick the vessel, when moving from home page to the commerce service, which can lead to mistakes and is not customer-friendly, more of annoying to the user.
• Limited Customization: Customers asked for more possibilities with customization and to modify different user roles with specific permissions.

"We want to be able to modify our account without always sending a request to Wärtsilä, for example, to add new users. We also want to have better visibility for an admin user on what services each user has and be able to modify them."

• Inconsistent Data Quality: Customers liked the availability of parts and prices online. However, they pointed out issues with spare parts data accuracy. Technical documents do not match the commerce data, which makes it sometimes difficult for customers to use it and there is a limited amount of product categories available, which is an improvement point to Wärtsilä. Customers also required more visibility of stock levels.
• Handling of Large Orders: Customers were worried about processing orders more than 100 lines from the platform, because usually the web shop freezes or crashes and this will have an impact on the buying process and delays.

Recommendations:

• Enhance Navigation: Streamlined pathways and intuitive interfaces should be prioritized.
• Improve Personalization: Offer user-specific dashboards and product suggestions based on historical interactions.
• Verify Data Accuracy: Strengthen data governance to ensure consistency and reliability across catalogues.
• Agile Development: Adopt agile methodologies for faster iteration cycles, incorporating real-time feedback to improve platform responsiveness.

The research also highlighted that customer voice (VoC) must be systematically captured and analyzed. Tools like AI-powered dashboards (e.g., Lumoa) could centralize feedback to guide development priorities. Moreover, CRM systems and omnichannel strategies were recommended to improve personalization and sustain long-term customer relationships.

The Future of DCX in B2B E-Commerce

Wärtsilä’s digital transformation is part of a broader shift across B2B industries, where the expectations of millennial decision-makers—who now make up a significant portion of the buyer landscape—are reshaping the e-commerce experience. These users prefer self-service, and value transparency.

The future of DCX lies in:

• Customer-Centric Innovation: Real-time feedback loops and co-creation with customers will become central to development.
• AI-Driven Personalization: Leveraging machine learning to understand user behavior and deliver targeted experiences.
• Omnichannel Integration: Seamless interactions across digital and physical touchpoints will define superior customer journeys.
• Agile-Enabled Evolution: Agile methods allow organizations to adapt quickly, test new ideas, and continuously improve user experiences.

Enhancing digital customer experience is not just about making platform user-friendly; it's about creating a seamless, enjoyable, and efficient journey for the customer. As companies like Wärtsilä continue to innovate and adapt, the future of e-commerce looks promising, with endless possibilities for growth and improvement.

Final Thoughts

The rapid development of digital technology has revolutionized the business landscape, which has led to a huge impact on e-commerce, companies must stay ahead of their competitors by continuously improving their digital platforms. By focusing on usability, data quality, customization, and customer feedback. Hence, Wärtsilä can deliver a superior DCX, and foster long-term customer loyalty.

Reference

Hautaviita, S. (2025). Optimizing Digital Customer Experience in E-Commerce – A Comprehensive Case Study Approach to Identifying and Implementing Strategic Enhancements. MBA Thesis in Digital Business and Management, Novia University of Applied Sciences. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202504227111

For Further Reading

Aguwa, C. C., Monplaisir, L., & Turgut, O. (2012). Voice of the customer: Customer satisfaction ratio based analysis. Expert Systems with Applications, 39(11), 10112–10119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2012.02.071.

Agile Brand Guide. (n.d.). Alignment between people is key to better customer experience. https://agilebrandguide.com/alignment-between-people-is-key-to-better-customer-experience/?srsltid=AfmBOooWQ2MNk1So-QY0xBkQCM5xLCCiOHNAnG9WKQLg5SwNK_iBf3uN.

Akter, S., & Wamba, S. F. (2016). Big data analytics in e-commerce: A systematic review and agenda for future research. Electronic Markets, 26(2), 173–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-016-0219-0.

Bangia, M. et al. (2022, January 26). Busting the five biggest B2B e-commerce myths. McKinsey, and Company. http://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/busting-the-five-biggest-b2b-e-commerce-myths.

Fabijan, A., Olsson, H. H., & Bosch, J. (2015). Customer feedback and data collection techniques in software R&D: A literature review. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 210, 139–153. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19593-3_12.

Fanderl, H. et al. (2016, March). Are you really listening to what your customers are saying? McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/are-you-really-listening-to-what-your-customers-are-saying

Fok, M. (2024, June 13). Unlock McKinsey’s B2B growth secret strategy with AI X network. Linkedin.com. http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unlock-mckinseys-b2b-growth-secret-strategy-ai-x-network-matt-fok-tli5c.

Short biography of Authors:

Sebastian is the main writer of this Thesis. He has been working with Digital Customer Experience, all the way from 2017 and has held various positions in Wärtsilä. Currently he is working as Digital Application Manager responsible of Marine and Energy customers operating in Central Europe and Nordic region to promote and support Wärtsilä Online platform to its responsible customers.

Co-author:

Dr. Emmanuel Ndzibah is the supervisor and co-author of this Thesis. Emmanuel holds an International Certificate in Marketing (CIM-UK), a M.Sc. in Business Administration with International Marketing as a major, and Ph.D. in Industrial Management from the University of Vaasa in Finland. His expertise includes renewable energy, sustainable strategies, and intelligent management strategies for developing economies.

The blog post has been reviewed by Novia's editorial board and accepted for publication on 23.4.2025.