Digital Test Drive Experience, Transforming the Customer Journey
Business Challenge
As customer expectations shifted towards seamless digital experiences, Volvo Cars recognized the need to modernize one of the most important moments in the buying journey: booking a test drive.
The objective was to replace fragmented local processes with a scalable digital solution that allowed customers to schedule a test drive anytime, anywhere, while creating a consistent premium experience across international markets. Delivering this transformation required close collaboration between business, technology and local market organizations to balance global standards with regional operational requirements.
My Leadership Role
As Senior Manager, Retail Formats, I led the development and implementation of Volvo Cars' digital test drive booking project, guiding the initiative from strategic definition through global implementation.
My role focused on aligning business objectives, customer experience and technology, ensuring the solution addressed both commercial ambitions and operational realities. I established project governance, managed scope, budget and delivery planning, while bringing together multidisciplinary teams to deliver a customer-centric digital platform that integrated seamlessly into Volvo's retail ecosystem.
A critical part of the project was creating strong collaboration between Retail Development, IT, software developers, Digital Product teams, National Sales Companies and local retail partners. By aligning technical development with customer and market needs, we created a scalable solution capable of supporting international rollout while allowing flexibility for local market execution.
Throughout the project, I worked closely with executive leadership, providing strategic direction, project governance and regular progress updates to the Board of Directors to ensure alignment with Volvo's broader retail transformation strategy.
Key Stakeholders
The project required close collaboration across a diverse international stakeholder network, including:
Executive Leadership & Board of Directors
Retail Development
Digital Product Teams
IT
Software Developers
UX & Customer Experience Specialists
Marketing
National Sales Companies
Local Retail Partners
Dealers
External Technology Partners
Creating alignment between these stakeholders was essential to delivering a customer experience that was both technically robust and operationally scalable.
Business Impact
The Digital Test Drive project became an important milestone in Volvo Cars' omnichannel retail transformation, connecting digital customer engagement with the physical retail experience.
The project delivered:
A seamless online booking experience that simplified the customer journey.
Stronger integration between digital platforms and physical retail operations.
Improved collaboration between business, IT and software development teams.
A scalable digital solution supporting implementation across international markets.
Greater consistency in the customer experience while allowing flexibility for local market requirements.
Enhanced governance and project visibility through structured reporting and executive stakeholder engagement.
A foundation for future digital retail initiatives supporting Volvo's long-term omnichannel strategy.
Lessons Learned
Successful digital transformation is built on collaboration. Technology alone does not improve customer experience, it is the alignment of business strategy, user needs, technical expertise and operational execution that creates meaningful and lasting change.
This project reinforced my belief that the most successful transformation initiatives bring together diverse expertise around a shared vision, enabling innovation that is scalable, customer-centric and commercially effective.
