Out of the thicket towards peak performance

Recycled high-tech fabrics. Functional features. Casual design.

As a fashion brand, National Geographic Apparel positions itself in the premium segment - and the Corem GmbH shop is intended to reflect precisely this claim. However, stumbling blocks became apparent after the initial launch: The payment system led to cancellations, the shop was difficult to maintain and the UX resembled a patchwork quilt. Corem was looking for an agency with Shopware 6 experience to bring light into the jungle and raise the shop to the level that the brand deserved.

The start of a joint journey in a turbocharged partnership.

Right from the start, we knew exactly what our construction sites were and were therefore looking for an agency that not only had technical expertise, but also quick solutions. Transparent processes and short paths were important to us - we didn't want bloated structures with 8-week audits without tangible results. ONEDOT impressed us not only with its references, but also with its proposal: We get started and show what we can do. They responded directly to our needs right from the start and recognised what we needed instead of overwhelming us with their processes.

On our side, the first step is always to listen: What does the customer really need? We don't want to impose something on anyone that is too big for the current situation - even if it sometimes makes sense to develop a brand concept together first. In this case, however, the pain points were clear so that we were able to quickly and pragmatically solve the problem after a brief UX analysis phase. We have very experienced shop developers who were able to work with the existing code and quickly integrate the new Mollie payment system.

The topics that we defined as priorities - the PSP and the revision of the homepage, as well as further optimisations in the backend - were completed ahead of schedule. Even the matching listing was ready with the launch of the new Spring/Summer 2022 collection. So we were able to pull off a kind of mini-relaunch in one fell swoop, in time. I think this shows that our requests were answered with good resource planning and that our expectations were more or less exceeded.

Of course, we always try to react quickly to customer requests and prioritise: How can we prioritise sensibly? We have appropriate structures for this, such as our project management tool ‘Crewbuddy’, but also short channels within the company. We also communicate with our customers via Slack. That makes collaboration uncomplicated, almost as if we were sitting together in the same company.

In the end, this hands-on mentality was exactly what we needed. We are already feeling the benefits of the new payment system immediately. ONEDOT is also currently optimising the user interface on a rolling basis. That is also a difference like night and day. Previously, the shop and the brand were two separate worlds - now everything looks like a single entity and we have the feeling that the website also reflects what we want to convey to the outside world.

Our team not only brings expertise in shopware development to the table, but also an eye for the brand, content and, of course, strong design skills. I believe this helps us to understand the needs of e-commerce customers, even with such selective optimisations, and then to solve the problem adequately at all levels - design, technology, brand.

The brand already conveys itself much better in the shop. The optimisation of the backend has also made us much more flexible when it comes to launching new campaigns and content. The entire system is easier to maintain - this gives us freedom for the future that we didn't have before. Users benefit from a UX that fully meets their expectations.

There's still a lot to do. Let's keep going.