NOCH has been inspiring its customers for over 100 years as an expert in model landscaping
NOCH is a leading manufacturer and importer of model railway accessories specifically for model landscaping, and is a true expert in this field. The family-run company was founded in 1911 and can look back on more than 100 years of sales experience within the industry. NOCH items can be purchased both from the specialist retailer in Wangen in the Allgäu as well as from the successful Shopware 6 online shop. The company delights its customers with products in all common sizes within the sectors of creative handicrafts, model landscaping, diorama making, model railway building and wargaming. Around 6,000 items across 80 categories are offered on several sales channels. No matter whether it’s trees, bridges, track, buildings, hand-painted figures or much more – NOCH fulfils the wishes of every hobby modeller.
Model making enthusiasts can also read useful modelling tips in the blog. In addition, NOCH offers its B2C customers advice on individual model making techniques on its own YouTube channel. NOCH not only sells to end customers in its global B2C sector, but also to NOCH specialist retailers with a custom solution in the B2B sector.
The challenge
In order to reach NOCH customers on several different sales channels, a shop system was needed which meets the complex requirements of the model making expert. API interfaces as well as the option to combine online shopping and CMS pages was crucial. It was therefore particularly important to NOCH to use established, well-known software.
Shopware impresses NOCH with its API-first approach
Thanks to its API-first approach, Shopware 6 was the ideal choice for NOCH, as various interfaces could be developed for PIMCORE and Microsoft Navision. A key benefit for NOCH was merging the corporate site and shop into one system. At the same time, simple maintenance with Shopware was important to the company. Shopware’s Shopping Experiences feature allows NOCH to edit and expand all the areas in the frontend themselves. They’re also impressed by Shopware 6’s large ecosystem. Numerous extensions allow the system to be quickly and easily extended, which means NOCH successfully minimises effort and costs.
Further advantages of Shopware 6
Furthermore, NOCH stands out due to the quick and easy Shopware 6 one-page checkout with Unzer, PayPal and Amazon Pay. NOCH has presented its products using the Shopware 6 Shopping Experiences feature in specially created themed worlds, which facilitate the optimal presentation of entire model railway landscapes. Accordingly, customers can be inspired by the themed worlds and find ideas for their own model making projects. They can add the displayed products to their shopping carts quickly and easily.
So far, NOCH has had positive experiences with Shopware 6’s Shopping Experiences feature. They can address their customers on an emotional level and create exciting shopping experiences. Thanks to the open-source solution, VIERPUNKT was able to expand the software to meet NOCH’s requirements.
Shopware supports NOCH’s omnichannel commerce
It was also possible to integrate Shopware into NOCH’s sales and communication channels, as Shopware is linked to Facebook and Instagram via the company’s sales channels. The products are displayed in a Facebook shop and items can be tagged in Facebook and Instagram posts. The interface to the three eBay shops runs via brickfox. Orders are directly imported into Shopware. Furthermore, via Shopware, NOCH offers a store locator which lists all the NOCH specialist retailers, for the brand manufacturer to give the end consumer as many purchasing options as possible. In general, NOCH sees great potential in omnichannel commerce, particularly in sales.
“In our view, fast product availability will play an even more crucial role in the customer's purchasing decisions.”
Satisfied review
In retrospect, the major project with Shopware was worth it, particularly as the themed worlds with the shopping feature were received very positively by NOCH customers. The migration of existing customers to the new Shopware shop was also successful. The cooperation with all the parties involved was a success – an exciting challenge which was great fun for the company.
Looking ahead
NOCH intends to expand its product range even further in the future, so that customers can continue to develop their model landscapes. The shop will also be supplemented with further helpful features and apps. The next step includes plans for a bundle system, so that customers can be offered exclusive discounts and themed product bundles.
NOCH wins the Shop Usability Award
“We’re simply delighted with the result and we even won the ‘Leisure, Hobby & Pet’ category of the Shop Usability Award 2021.”
NOCH impressed the UXme community with its great attention to detail, exciting shopping experience and the creative model making instructions in its blog. Together with Shopware’s business partner VIERPUNKT, NOCH was crowned the award winner.
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