As demand for online booking of Interrail and Eurail passes surged, Eurail’s digital infrastructure began to show its limits. Initially built on Drupal, an open-source tool, the system struggled with performance and scalability as eCommerce operations expanded.
For instance, the entire process — from Interrail and Eurail pass purchases in the digital storefront to backend processing and crucial data transfers to the data warehouse — needed absolute precision. This data was essential for financial accounting and revenue sharing with shareholders, where even a one-cent discrepancy between systems was unacceptable.
As online bookings for Eurail increased, discrepancies became harder to reconcile over time. Additionally, as the company expanded its seasonal promotions, the customer surge put even more pressure on the eCommerce platform, making performance and scalability a top priority.
Furthermore, the ability to support an expanding variety of product offerings, such as different types of Interrail and Eurail passes and bundled services like travel insurance, presented another opportunity that the legacy system couldn’t meet. As the business model evolved to include digital pass delivery via a mobile app, the company’s platform needed to offer a seamless and consistent user experience.
To get back on track, Eurail evaluated several eCommerce platforms, including Magento and commercetools. Ultimately, they chose commercetools for its open architecture and API-first infrastructure, moving away from a monolithic application and embracing a flexible, composable model. While the migration was extensive, the implementation was smooth thanks to the guidance of system integrator partner Valtech.
With commercetools as the central part of Eurail’s architecture, the company started to tackle eCommerce components one by one, starting with checkout. Now, travelers can easily purchase tickets on Eurail’s website, choosing from a wide range of pass options and additional services like refund protection. Plus, travelers can finalize transactions faster even when promotions are active and online traffic is at its peak.
Travelers can also book seats directly at Eurail’s online store after purchasing their pass, which is a capability built in-house. The website provides real-time information on train connections, highlighting when seat reservations are required or not. This allows travelers to add a seat to their cart across many train companies, providing a unified experience in one place.
Moreover, Eurail is leveraging commercetools’ promotions capabilities to run multiple promotions simultaneously, target different traveler segments and stay agile when working with complex partnerships that dictate eligible offers for specific train and ferry services.
We chose commercetools because of its flexibility and openness — it’s helped us not only modernize our platform but allow us in the future to experiment more confidently and respond faster to market trends and customer needs.
CIO, Eurail
Eurail’s transformation with commercetools’ composable commerce architecture went beyond technological upgrades — it reshaped how customers engage with the company. Today, travelers can buy Interrail passes online smoothly while benefiting from timely promotions like never before, setting the stage for Eurail to continue elevating experiences across the entire traveler journey.
Seamless API integrations empowered Eurail to bundle value-added services like insurance and seat reservations, enhancing customer satisfaction. On the development side, reduced reliance on rigid systems fostered experimentation and faster go-to-market timelines. Embracing modern eCommerce strategies has future-proofed Eurail’s operations, positioning the company to tackle both current and emerging digital challenges with confidence.
Last but certainly not least, performance and scalability are crucial for Eurail to deliver fast, seamless experiences that meet the demands of modern travelers. With a composable commerce foundation, Eurail can efficiently handle high traffic, ensure smooth transactions and adapt to future growth — empowering travelers with the speed and reliability they expect at every step of their journey.
Enables seamless, flexible checkout experiences where customers can bundle tickets, seat reservations and insurance products.
Allows customers to add multiple products, such as rail passes and insurance, into a single, manageable transaction.
Speeds up go-to-market efforts, letting the team launch dynamic promotions faster.
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