API Loyalty Integration

How Dentsply Sirona embedded loyalty into their global Hybris e-commerce solution

In 2009 Dentsply Sirona, (then just Dentsply), asked Stream Loyalty to create a campaign to engage end customers (dentists and hygienists), with whom they had no contact at that point. The campaign grew into the first loyalty programme of its kind in the dental market in the UK, and continued to adapt to changing market conditions and dynamics.

In 2019 digital transformation was a top priority and the business launched projects to align its ERP systems, launch a global e-commerce platform and, alongside this, a global loyalty programme. The executive team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, asked Stream Loyalty to help design a programme that used the best-in-class learnings from the UK, alongside the individual market requirements in the USA and Canada.

The primary objective of the programme was to grow revenues by motivating the customer to make online purchasing a part of their process. Customers therefore needed to have full transparency of reward points and their loyalty tier within the Dentsply Sirona e-commerce platform in order to assist in driving the desired behaviour.

Despite the loyalty programme running on the LoyaltyStream 1.0 software platform (a separate programme to the Ecommerce platform running on SAP Hybris), all transactions happen in real time with the customer being able to opt in to loyalty, earn points for transactions,and redeem points on orders within their basket instantly within the SAP Hybris ecommerce system. The loyalty solution that was delivered via API integrations undertakes the hard work of calculating points based on a member’s country of business, tier and attestation preferences. The SAP Hybris system does not contain any loyalty related data – it is queried and displayed asynchronously, supported via front–end UI. Loyalty point balance adjustments resulting from returns/refunds are handled within the LoyaltyStream environment, promotions are handled via the SAP Hybris platform.

A custom Web API framework was built and deployed for Dentsply Sirona, making it easy to build HTTP services that reach a broad range of clients, including browsers and mobile devices. The RESTful API support the standard HTTP methods GET, POST, PUT and DELETE.

Stream Loyalty worked closely with Dentsply Sirona’s ecommerce partner, Epam, who were responsible for the development of the SAP Hybris ecommerce system as well as Dentsply Sirona’s internal teams responsible for Microsoft BizTalk and their CDW. All of the teams met weekly to agree the project goals, run through work completed, complete testing and agree goals for the next week.

The API’s had to be able to pull data during live user interactions and return specific data feeds to display on the front end for the customer. To ensure that this was a seamless user experience the API’s had to be robust and complete the data calculations and calls within milliseconds. There were also numerous API’s that were called from internal systems, not in real time, but at specific intervals throughout the day. The system was built with a range of API error codes that were able to escalate if errors were found either within calls to the system or if the data that was pushed back.

The Custom Dentsply Sirona APIs

• Customer Insert/Update API –the ability to insert or update customers, to be called from CDW or SAP Hybris
• Account Tier Update API –the ability for Dentsply Sirona to update the loyalty tier for a customer
• Account Balance – the ability to get the loyalty tier for an account
• Product Points Estimation API –the ability to estimate the points which an account will earn for a specific product
• Order Simulation API –the ability to calculate loyalty for an order to display in the basket UI
• Post Order API – the ability to calculate the loyalty for a confirmed order
• Authorise Transaction API –the ability to authorise the debit of loyalty points from a customer’s account during the checkout process

• Points Transfer API – the ability to transfer points from an historic loyalty programme
• Offline order API – the ability to upload offline orders and invoices
• Account Type Eligibility API –the ability to query whether an account type is eligible for loyalty and display the relevant information on the front end. In the USA, businesses in certain states are not legally allowed to be part of a loyalty programme and so we needed to ensure that those accounts were not able to register. There were also some account types who were excluded from the loyalty programme because of bespoke pricing models in place
• Tier Import API –the ability to import tier levels to member accounts
• Accounts Import API –the ability to import multiple new accounts to the loyalty system

Full Administrative Control

A full administration console provides the business stakeholders with the ability to view a list of the accounts within the system, view a list of all orders with the ability for order cancellations/edits, manage the administration of discretionary points, view a full live API log of the calls happening on the platform and a full suite of reports and dashboards to monitor the performance of the programme.

Angi Shepherd

Marketing Director, Dentsply Sirona

“We are delighted with the LoyaltyStream platform in terms of its results and the flexibility it offers. It has completely revolutionised our marketing effectiveness. In essence, it is an example of creative market leadership that will continue to differentiate Dentsply Sirona in a competitive market. In short... a revolution.”

Tracey Carter

Hilltop Dental Spa, Northfield

“The system is easy to use and the Rewards on offer make the website superior to its competitors, because it allows you to gain Rewards pounds to spend on new products in the future.”

Gary Marvin

Project Manager, Dentsply Sirona

“Stream gained a detailed understanding of our business before offering the solution; it sounds obvious but how many agencies actually do this? Stream then delivered a topquality product and service, on time and within budget, with a smile on their faces. I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending Stream as great people to do business with.”

About The Author

Laura’s goal is to develop partnerships with clients, seeking to understand their challenges in order to provide creative, value add solutions. Laura always seeks to provide a ‘no challenge is too big, no problem is too small’ attitude and aims to always exceed expectations.

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