The redesigned Aramark Refreshments ecommerce site is delivering enhanced customer experiences
Every day, workers across the world enter their companies’ breakrooms in search of the perfect cup of coffee to start the day or a satisfyingly salty snack to grab between meetings. Delivering a consistent experience relies on the ability to forecast the need, adjust to demand, and facilitate simplicity in the order process – and it is with this focus on ease that Aramark Refreshments identified opportunity.
Jeff Diament, Director of Strategic Partnerships, and Rich Saxe, Chief Technology Officer for Aramark Workplace Experience Group, shared insights from their client interactions and the improvements made to the Aramark Refreshments ecommerce platform. Diament noted, “Our buyers are used to scrolling ecommerce sites and having their orders delivered immediately – often next day. They want a one-stop-shop for purchasing.” He added that clients expressed the need for better mobile presence, increased self-service and navigation capabilities, and easier ways to engage with Aramark teams.
Diament emphasized the importance of these enhancements, stating, “Our customers seek a premier ecommerce experience that prioritizes ease of use. Rich’s team reviewed this important client input and created a new site that mirrors best-in-class practices – from the flow to the graphics to the layouts. It is night and day from the old experience.”
The team focused their approach on the route-based business model – fashioning a site that allows customers to build recurring orders that can be easily modified.
“Our old site was built around capturing one-time orders and we transformed the flow to allow for a more subscription-based approach,” said Saxe. “Customers can auto-submit orders for upcoming weeks or use business intelligence to make real-time product adjustments with the click of a button. We want to decrease the minimum time needed to maintain orders, while also providing AI-powered insights & personalization that allow folks to be as creative as they’d like with how they build their experience.”
The updated site was launched to all US national and local accounts in September 2024, with expansion to Canada to come in April 2025. Results from the first six months have been positive: the update has led to increased average order value (AOV), improved lead generation, and a higher fill rate based on the ability to better to substitute for out-of-stock items more easily.
As to what’s next, Saxe says he and the team are working to incorporate product bundling that creates “a breakroom kit” with all the essentials, as well as adding personalized promotions tailored to customer orders.
