E-stores are a vital channel for businesses to engage with customers who have grown accustomed to buying anything, from anywhere at any time, on demand. As online shopping continues to grow in popularity, companies need robust e-commerce solutions to meet consumer expectations.
Swiss-Ski, one of Switzerland’s largest sports associations, faced significant challenges with its online store, such as:
- Time-intensive processes and manual tasks led to delays and inefficiencies.
- Fragmented fulfillment due to disconnected systems in ordering process.
- Limited customer engagement due to legacy platform that could not support the level of e-commerce, that they’ve come to expect.
To address these challenges, Swiss-Ski aimed to improve delivery speed and automate operational workflows with new tech integrations such as MS Direct, a fulfillment center for delivery completion, that would drastically reduce manual steps, improve efficiency and open up capacity for more dynamic customer service.
These goals had to be achieved with full client control over customization vs. Swiss-Ski relying on a SaaS solution.
A custom e-commerce platform built for performance
Partnering with SELISE, Swiss-Ski embarked on a digital transformation journey. The custom solution was built on Solidus, an open-source e-commerce platform using HOTWIRE with Ruby on Rails. The finished product included the following features:
- Secure payment options via Saferpay, which not only protect customer data, but also ensure a smooth checkout.
- Automated order processing and communication with delivery partners.
- Custom admin portal with features like real-time inventory tracking, product configuration, and order management for more tightly manageable operations.
- Tailored UI/UX interfaces that anticipate real user actions and offer a state-of-the-art experience for both customers and staff.
- Membership-based pricing, unlocking personalized promotions and exclusive sales e.g., limited-edition items signed by athletes, to strengthen Swiss-Ski’s connection with its members.
- Embedded sales and customer analytics tools via a Power BI reporting dashboard that enables tracking of sales, user behaviour, and operations.
Results & impact of Swiss-Ski’s digital transformation
The entire project, from planning to launch, took just five months. The first version of the platform went live quickly, allowing Swiss-Ski to start seeing immediate benefits and adapt according to the data received.
Since upgrading, Swiss-Ski has achieved remarkable outcomes:
- Revenue is increasing by over 3 times each year.
- Annual page visitors are growing by 2.5 times each year.
- Overhead costs shrank significantly due to automation and streamlined workflows.
- Up to 85% faster shipping times due to integrated delivery partners and automated processes, delivery times reduced from 14 days to just 2-3 business days.
- Data-driven decisions and improvement strategies thanks to insights available on the Power BI dashboard.
- Customer satisfaction, engagement and loyalty are due to modern features like intuitive UX and personalised pricing.
Swiss-Ski’s e-commerce evolution: a blueprint for success
Swiss-Ski’s impressive transformation from a legacy online store to a streamlined digital platform demonstrates the value of custom integration and automation. The project not only boosted sales and web traffic but it also significantly reduced manual work and made the business more transparent and efficient as a solid foundation for future growth and innovation. It’s not a leap of the imagination to see that this case study serves as a proof of concept for digital retail transformation in any industry.
So, what are you waiting for?
Partner with SELISE to revolutionize your business processes and stay ahead of the curve. With our proven track record in crafting innovative solutions, SELISE empowers you to develop, streamline, and scale your operations effortlessly. Contact SELISE today to turn your vision into reality.
