3 min read
Elkjøp's switch to Next.js and Vercel cut release cycles by 7 weeks, boosting digital revenue and enhancing user experience.
With over $1B in revenue flowing through their digital properties, Elkjøp (Elgiganten), Nordic subsidiary of Currys PLC and leading consumer electronics retailer in the region, knew their digital presence needed to reflect their in-store commitment to innovation and excellence. Their previous ecommerce platform, built on Angular and self-hosted on Kubernetes, had become a source of frustration for both customers and internal teams. Slow page loads, SEO struggles, and inefficient developer experience were impacting the bottom line and hindering their ability to deliver the exceptional online shopping experience their customers deserved.
The Challenge: More than just technical debt
The problems ran deeper than just outdated technology. Lengthy build times and a complex deployment process involving a separate team meant that even small changes could take a while to reach customers.
The tools they were working with were also holding them back, and forcing them to build workarounds instead of new features. "It felt like we were always working against the framework instead of with it," Jansson recalls. "For example, our SEO was not good enough," admits Tomas Jansson, Elkjøp's Principal Software Engineer, "we had to build workarounds like a custom crawler just to serve content to Google faster."
The situation was hindering Elkjøp's ability to innovate and respond to market demands. They knew they needed a radical change, not just a technical upgrade, but a cultural shift that would empower their teams and unleash their potential.
Faster iteration cycles with automated deployments
The transition to Next.js and Vercel has also had a transformative impact on Elkjøp's development workflows and team dynamics. Automated deployments and preview environments have empowered developers to take ownership of the entire release process.
We're not waiting for things to be verified because we also believe that we can verify a lot of things ourselves," Jansson explains. "Developers should know what we're developing and be able to verify most of it ourselves.
This shift in mindset has enabled Elkjøp's developers to move faster, deploy more frequently, and take on a more strategic role in driving the company's digital transformation. The team's ability to quickly iterate, test, and release new features has been a key driver of Elkjøp's ability to respond to customer needs and stay ahead of the competition.
Things that previously took us 7 weeks now take a day," Tomas shares. "We're definitely moving much faster, and the technical choices have made it easier to work with the solution instead of against it.
Elkjøp has also leveraged feature flags within the Vercel toolbar to enable gradual rollouts and experimentation, allowing the team to test new features and functionality with internal users before making them widely available. This approach has helped the company gather valuable feedback and ensure a smooth transition for both customers and internal stakeholders.
Unlocking a more stable user experience
By adopting Next.js and Vercel, Elkjøp was able to significantly improve the performance and SEO of its ecommerce platform. With significant improvements across their Core Web Vitals scores—93% improvement in Cumulative Layout Shift, 60% improvement in Interaction to Next Paint, and 50% improvement in Largest Contentful Paint—the team now sees all green in their lighthouse scores. The combination of Next.js's server-side rendering capabilities and Vercel's seamless hosting and deployment platform enabled Elkjøp to deliver faster page loads, more consistent content rendering, and better search engine visibility.
In addition to the performance and SEO improvements, Elkjøp's transition to Next.js and Vercel has also had a positive impact on the overall user experience of its ecommerce platform.
It's more stable, and you don't have as many surprises," Tomas explains. "Things are there when you expect them to be there, and the user experience is much better.
While Elkjøp has kept the brand and user experience consistent, the underlying technical improvements have resulted in a more seamless and reliable shopping experience for customers. Pages load faster, content is rendered consistently, and the overall stability of the platform has been enhanced, resulting in over $1 billion in digital revenue.