How Calumet drives digital growth in photo and video retail with Shopware 6

Calumet: Europe’s leading supplier of digital and analog photo and video equipment

Calumet Photographic GmbH was founded in Chicago in 1939. At first, the company focused on manufacturing sporting goods. Soon, it expanded its portfolio to include photographic accessories. In 1955, Calumet took over Kodak’s large-format camera business. By 1980, the company had grown into a full-range provider for professional photography. Ten years later, Calumet expanded to Germany and opened its first store in Hamburg. Since then, the company has grown to eleven locations across Germany and 115 employees. Today, Calumet generates $90 million in annual revenue.

Calumet now ranks as the largest provider of photo and video equipment in Europe. In addition to products, the company offers seminars and workshops and supports creators, agencies and film production companies in building studios and developing print solutions.

The challenges

Before moving to Shopware 6, Calumet already operated an established online shop. As the business grew, however, the existing platform could no longer keep up with rising demands around scalability, security and ongoing digital transformation. The old system also required extensive maintenance, which slowed down day-to-day operations.

To strengthen its position in the market, Calumet decided it was time for a change. The team decided to leave the old system behind and move to Shopware 6. With the new shop system, Calumet aimed to achieve the following:

• A modern, future-ready system that supports complex business requirements

• A shop that enables a true omnichannel experience

• Improved data management

• Higher mobile conversion rates

• An optimized user experience that gives customers fast access to all product information and complementary offers

• More efficient backend processes and lower operating costs

The solution: Shopware 6

For the relaunch, Calumet chose Shopware 6 as the foundation for its new eCommerce landscape. The platform delivers stability, performance and long-term flexibility. It also allows teams to integrate additional systems quickly and easily. Calumet integrated Akeneo, Sage and Storyblok as its PIM, ERP and CMS systems.

Calumet worked closely with Shopware partner best it to bring the new online shop to life. best it analyzed the existing infrastructure and selected the right tools and partners to build a stable foundation for the new shop. In addition to an in-depth quantitative data analysis, best it conducted qualitative user research, including interviews, focus groups and on-site observations of customer behavior at the point of sale. Based on these insights, the team developed a new information architecture, a carefully designed user experience and a modern, component-based user interface. After extensive prototyping and a pilot project on Shopware’s cloud platform, the team refined the new shop through usability testing. The result is a high-performing, scalable platform that increased conversion rates by 9% and boosted sessions with product views by 38% year over year. Features such as Click & Collect connect the online shop seamlessly with physical stores and create a consistent omnichannel experience.

To deliver personalized product recommendations, Calumet also integrated trbo into the shop system. The tool tracks which products visitors view. Based on that data, the shop recommends complementary items in a slider. Shopware now manages and synchronizes all newsletter subscriptions and unsubscribes. This keeps customer data accurate and up to date.

Shopware 6 for an optimized user experience

During the relaunch, Calumet focused strongly on improving the shop’s user experience. Using Shopware 6, the team created an offer structure that requires minimal guidance. With just a few clicks, customers can access detailed product information as well as related offers such as second-hand and rental products.

During an intensive discovery phase, Shopware partner best it analyzed the strengths, weaknesses and potential of the existing online shop. The team used quantitative data from Google Analytics along with heat maps and scroll maps to identify areas for improvement. They also conducted focus groups, exploratory interviews and in-store observations at the point of sale to gain a clear understanding of customer needs and expectations across online and omnichannel touchpoints.

Calumet relaunch: A success story

The migration to Shopware 6 improved the user experience across the Calumet shop. The team also streamlined internal workflows, which cut operating costs and reduced the workload behind the scenes. After the relaunch, the Foto Video Sauter shop increased its conversion rate by 9%. Sessions with product views grew by 38%.