Tire Retail: Daek Drop In’s digital journey with UKAD

Daek Drop In is a Danish online tire retailer built around a lean, warehouse-free business model. Instead of holding its own stock, the company sources tires directly from distributors and connects customers with mounting centres across Denmark.

As a startup entering the market, Daek Drop In needed an eCommerce platform that could bring together product availability, pricing, vehicle data and mounting services. At the same time, the system had to remain straightforward enough to be managed without an internal development team.

Daek Drop In selected UKAD after discovering the company through Clutch.

The platform needed to connect several independent parts of the tire-buying journey within one system.

Product availability, pricing, vehicle compatibility, payments and mounting services came from different external providers. This data had to remain current and work together without making the customer experience more complex.

The key requirements were to:

• Synchronise stock data from multiple tire distributors.

• Integrate pricing sources and present relevant offers.

• Match tires to a customer’s vehicle.

• Connect customers with mounting centres across Denmark.

• Keep everyday platform management straightforward for a small team.

The challenge was not simply to add these integrations, but to make them work as one clear and reliable eCommerce experience.

Following the discovery and business analysis phase, UKAD designed an eCommerce solution around Daek Drop In’s warehouse-free operating model.

The platform brings together content management, product search, distributor data, vehicle lookup, payments and mounting-centre discovery within one customer journey.

• Umbraco and Ucommerce

  UKAD selected Umbraco with Ucommerce as the platform’s content and commerce foundation. The combination provided the required eCommerce functionality while keeping day-to-day management accessible to a non-technical business owner.

  The platform was built on Microsoft .NET with MS SQL Server as its data layer.

• Product search with Elasticsearch

  UKAD implemented a fast, configurable catalogue search covering vehicle specifications, tire dimensions, prices and availability. The search logic was adapted to the product structure and the different ways customers look for tires.

• Distributor stock and pricing data

  FTP-based data exchange collects stock and pricing information from external suppliers. This reduces manual catalogue updates and keeps product availability aligned with the latest received distributor data. The same information can also be used with Google Merchant.

• Tire matching by license plate

  A vehicle-information API allows customers to enter a license plate number and view compatible tires from the catalogue without knowing the required technical specifications.

• Mounting-centre search

  Google Maps and postcode search help customers find nearby mounting centres and select a convenient location for tire delivery and installation.

• Payments with QuickPay

  QuickPay supports online payments as part of the complete purchasing journey, from finding compatible tires to choosing a mounting centre and completing the order.

• UX/UI designed around the buying journey

  UKAD’s UX/UI design team organised vehicle lookup, product search, tire selection and mounting-centre discovery into a clear sequence across desktop and mobile devices.

UKAD delivered and launched an integrated eCommerce platform aligned with Daek Drop In’s warehouse-free business model.

The solution enabled Daek Drop In to:

• Operate the business with a lean structure led by one person.

• Manage content and everyday platform operations without dedicated IT staff.

• Sell tires without maintaining its own warehouse.

• Keep catalogue availability aligned with distributor data.

• Help customers find compatible tires using a license plate number.

• Connect online orders with mounting centres across Denmark.

• Provide a consistent purchasing journey across desktop and mobile devices.

From 2020 to 2024, UKAD also provided support and maintenance for the platform.

The project demonstrates how eCommerce development, practical UX/UI and coordinated third-party integrations can support a specialised retail model without adding unnecessary operational complexity.

Daek Drop In needed a partner with both Umbraco and .NET expertise to build the eCommerce platform and connect its external services.

UKAD provided access to experienced Umbraco developers and .NET developers within one delivery team. The collaboration covered business analysis, UX/UI design, platform development, third-party integrations and post-launch support.

UKAD’s broader capabilities also include Umbraco Cloud and hosting services , headless Umbraco development and legacy application modernization . This allows the team to support different platform architectures, modernise existing systems and address future development needs as a client’s digital business evolves.