ETAM picks commercetools to rebuild its global commerce platform

An MVP that led to a full transformation

commercetools, which describes itself as the digital commerce AI company, announced the partnership with ETAM Group on Oct. 27, 2026 in Paris. It follows an eight-week MVP built by ETAM's Digital Factory in early 2026. The goal was to test a modern, flexible commerce architecture against the retailer's existing environment.

The MVP was built on commercetools Sphere, with support from Algolia and Contentstack. According to the announcement, it showed a 70, 80% increase in development velocity. That result gave ETAM the confidence to move ahead with its broader commerce transformation.

Sébastien Ribeil, Head of Digital Factory at ETAM Group, said the work had been "about more than replacing technology". He added that the company is building a foundation that gives its teams "greater speed" and its brands "more freedom to innovate". He also described new omnichannel experiences as a strategic priority for ETAM Group in the years ahead.

API-native architecture and in-house development

ETAM is now replacing its legacy commerce platform with commercetools as part of a modern technology stack. The stated aim is to simplify the commerce environment and speed up development.

The API-native architecture will integrate with ETAM's existing IT ecosystem. Individual capabilities can evolve independently, which is meant to give each brand more autonomy while keeping a shared commerce foundation.

The transformation is led by ETAM's own development team, working closely with commercetools. According to the announcement, this lets the retailer build internal expertise and keep more control over how its platform develops. The architecture is also designed to make it easier to:

• introduce new capabilities
• support additional brands and markets
• keep improving digital and omnichannel customer experiences as business needs change

The role of AI

AI features in two ways. First, ETAM's Digital Factory used AI-assisted development during the MVP to speed up delivery with its existing engineering team. As the transformation continues, ETAM will keep exploring how AI can raise engineering productivity and cut manual development effort.

Second, commercetools Sphere is positioned as a flexible base for adding AI-powered commerce capabilities as they emerge. Dirk Hoerig, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at commercetools, said the project is not simply a replacement of ETAM's existing platform. He described it as a foundation that lets teams and brands "move faster today, while preparing the business for the much bigger changes AI will bring to commerce."

What it means for ETAM and the market

For ETAM, the move is a shift from a legacy platform to a modular setup that its own engineers can extend. The company expects this to support expansion into new markets and adapt its commerce strategy as customer expectations and technology change.

For commercetools, the deal adds a named fashion retailer to its customer base. The company says more than 500 global brands, retailers and enterprise companies use its technology, and that they process more than €100 billion in annualized GMV and over 700 million orders. The announcement gives no timeline for the full migration and no financial terms.