KJUS

Although Norwegian alpine ski-racer and Olympic champion Lasse Kjus had access to the best skiwear on the market, his expectations were never fully satisfied. So, like any Olympian athlete on the constant pursuit of perfection, he decided to tackle the problem head on and design skiwear on his own.

In 2000, together with Swiss entrepreneur Didi Serena, he launched his first collection under the brand name "KJUS", and together the duo founded LK International AG. With Lasse’s knowledge of what professional athletes require to perform at the top of their game and Serena's entrepreneurial spirit, the company set out to develop and sell comfortable and technologically superior skiwear. Over time, the product range was expanded to include golf clothing and lifestyle fashion.

Conquering markets in other countries

When the existing online shop no longer met the growing requirements of their digital business model, the company decided it was time to realign their strategic focus. This ultimately led them to replatform using Shopware Enterprise as the basis. When evaluating platforms, Shopware's scalability and extensive range of options for designing content elements were determining factors. Moreover, Shopware facilitated their goal of entering new markets in other countries with different currencies.

In order to reduce the amount of content maintenance and order management, one crucial aspect of the implementation concerned building a connection between the interfaces of the online shop and the ERP systems of LK International AG and the US subsidiary KJUS North America Inc.; a major feat which was supported by Shopware partner agency 7thSENSE. In total, the complete implementation period clocked in at only six months.

"With Shopware as our eCommerce solution, we have the opportunity to communicate on a country-specific basis, and quickly and easily conquer new markets with our brand," says Simon Meier, Head of Information Management at LK International AG, explaining how Shopware facilitated the internationalisation process.

KJUS focuses on customisation

With the help of geo IP recognition, the customer is automatically directed to one of 20 subshop pages, each of which contain two separate language shops. Taking the customer journey one step further, KJUS cares after that all products, campaigns and even the navigation adapt to the individual destination countries. Orders are then differentiated between EU and US, so that they are transmitted via the interface to the correct ERP system.

The Shopware Premium Plugins Smart Search and Advanced Promotion Suite also help to increase usability and allow KJUS to roll out a variety of marketing campaigns.

An emotional shopping experience accompanies the visitor through their interactive journey in the shop, where they are guided through different Shopping Worlds. Products are skilfully highlighted with informative text blocks, videos and illustrative images.

Using "Fit Analytics", the customer can quickly find the right size for them – a feature that not only increases customer satisfaction, but also lowers the return rate at KJUS.

Increase in sales

"Shopware gives us the foundation we need to realise our innovative marketing strategies in an uncomplicated way. Even with multi-channel considerations, it will be possible to implement new ideas quickly in the future," explains Simon Meier. Migrating to Shopware, among other factors, contributed to the significant increase in sales compared to the previous year.

"The cooperation with everyone involved was very pleasant and solution-oriented at every stage of the project," concludes Simon Meier.