With the website migration from a CMS system to Shopware, we have created the perfect preparations for successful e-commerce including online marketing!
The German website was just the beginning: the migration of four other countries will follow soon.
Ralf Bohle GmbH, based in Reichshof (Germany), produces bicycle tires and inner tubes under the Schwalbe brand name. As the local market leader in the industry, the company distributes its products throughout Europe. In addition, there is a branch office in North America, through which the Canadian market is also supplied.
The website was based on a CMS system and consisted of many content pages. The product range was already part of the website at that time, but the main focus was on the company presentation, branding, information, etc.
The international pages were linked, so it was possible to switch between languages/countries via the navigation. There was no stringent URL structure, so that the country abbreviation, for example, wasn’t always placed uniformly. Some landing pages also had their own header or navigation, so that they were “independent” from the actual website.
The goal of the project was not the immediate conversion to an online store. Rather, the migration to Shopware 6 was a strategic, future-oriented decision for a uniform corporate presence and uniform system requirements. Since Schwalbe North America already had an online store in live operation, the full potential of the architecture, including the e-commerce function, has already been used there since the conversion to Shopware 6. For the core market of Europe, this project has created the prerequisites for precisely this transition.
The German website serves as a forerunner for the migration of the websites – the other countries will follow suit in due course so that all websites are uniform in terms of design and technical requirements.
To enable the addition of a store function to the website at any time, the new site was created in the Shopware store system. This creates the basis for a high-performance online shop.
The first step was to coordinate the new layouts for the website. Since landing pages are highly individualized, many different elements should be provided for the new page to make it appealing. For this purpose, not only the Shopware standard elements were used, but also own elements for Ralf Bohle GmbH were brought in, so that the desired CD for Schwalbe could be implemented.
The product detail page presented a particular challenge. For this, many different product variants had to be presented in such a way that both professional B2B users and B2C customers could navigate through the various criteria in a structured manner. For example, there are filters for size, texture and also the color of the tires. The presentation of these properties on the product page is constantly being optimized to this day – for all product categories.
Various service tools were also available on the original website to help customers find their way around. For example, a dealer and tube machine search, a tube finder, a tire pressure calculator and the Schwalbe International location information make it easier to use the website. These tools were also migrated to the new website – including the technical logic.
The implementation of the search via Elastic Search enables Ralf Bohle GmbH to optimize keywords according to search queries. The user also benefits here from the high-performance, versatile tool: Not only products are searched, but also blog posts and categories.
We are currently working on rolling out the new shop system for the other countries. In addition, smaller projects are being implemented all the time. For example, the tire recycling program is now to be implemented via the website. Previously, this was handled via manually processes by employees.
Constant website maintenance and optimization is a must. For example, the Shopware elements continue to be supplemented and optimized so that the presentation can always be implemented as desired.
Another example is the redesign of the product detail page as well as the search function so that customers can find their desired product even more easily. On the product page, the filters are sorted so that the user is shown the appropriate variant.
If a criterion (e.g. size) is not compatible with other criteria (e.g. color), the corresponding filters are grayed out.
In addition, we plan to expand the Suggest layer of the search so that the availability and variants of the item are already displayed to the user there, so that they can add them to the shopping cart with one click. This feature will initially be available on the schwalbetires.com site, but will go live for schwalbe.com when the store functions go live.
Smaller optimizations, such as the extension of the contact form to relieve customer service or the adaptation of CMS elements, are part of everyday business.
We look forward to further cooperation!
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