Since their founding in 1985, the Discovery Channel has connected viewers from 155 countries around the world with educational programs about the natural world in which they live. Next to their catalogue of compelling documentaries, Discovery Channel also produces original programs such as MythBusters, Deadliest Catch, Man vs Wild and, of course, the infamous “Shark Week” and offers programming in over 33 languages. As the license holder and operator of all European Discovery shops, Lemonstorm wanted to reach Discovery’s international audiences and offer shopping experiences with the same level of engagement as their beloved programs.
Flexible software to meet individual needs
With 5 years’ experience in eCommerce, Lemonstorm had a clear image of the project requirements and turned to experienced Shopware agency, Neuland Communication, to realize the job. Long before implementation began, both parties the software foundation would determine the success of the project, which is where Shopware comes in to the picture.
“Shopware is an out-of-the-box software and the ideal shop system for all shop owners looking to build a scalable and user friendly online shop with relatively little development effort. Due to its range of integrated marketing tools, timeless extensions and sales-oriented feature Shopping Worlds, the system stands far out from the competition,” says Ralph Deuerling, CEO of Neuland Communication, about his decision to work with Shopware as the basis for the massive project.
During the project implementation, Neuland took advantage of Shopware’s flexibility and ease of expansion. In order to live up to the project’s individual requirements, the team used integrated plugins such as Smart Search, Live Shopping, Ticket System and Business Essentials.
Similar to Discovery’s unforgettable programming, they also wanted to online shop to stay in the memories of its visitors. For this reason, instead of a traditional shopping cart, the company encourages their shoppers to hunt for “prey” in the online shop. The features Storytelling & Shopping Worlds are the perfect accompaniment for properly presenting such a unique product portfolio. “We use the Storytelling feature mostly on category pages. This really highlights the experience, since large-scale images and videos make for a more emotional journey through the shop. Plus, managing Shopping Worlds is relatively straightforward,” Deuerling said.
Perfect implementation and international intentions
In regards to project implementation, Deuerling only has positive things to say. From a technical standpoint, they aimed to create the various stores with relatively minor development effort. Moreover, they wanted to offer a multilingual online shop for their Discovery stores. The solution was to operate four different shops from one backend.
Each shop has a different domain, and in the case of the DMAX shop, an entirely different template. Essential product information such as price, currency and description language can all be customized for separate shops in Shopware’s backend. The shops share around 80% of the same product assortment, but are each customized in order to reach different target groups. This is especially important when selling internationally because your customers in France have different needs than those in the UK. Deuerling said about working with Shopware’s international capabilities: “We integrated a relatively complex shop structure with multiple brands, languages and currencies – ultimately this wasn’t a problem with Shopware.”
Fast implementation and increased turnover
It only took three months to achieve these goals and satisfy everyone involved in the project. According to Deuerling, this was no coincidence: “Shopware is the best system for SMEs on the market. Just the technical maintenance costs alone are significantly lower when compared with other shop systems.” The implementation of the new shops already paid themselves off: by including Shopware in the global company’s business model, sales increased significantly – especially considering the steady increase in conversion rate, thanks to the responsive design. In just six months, the €70,000 investment was already amortized.
Customers in the UK can reach the Discovery shop using store.discoveryuk.com; French customers store.discoverychannel.fr; the rest of Europe store.discovery.eu; and German customers can reach the DMAX shop using dmax-shop.de.
