Successfully supporting a digital transformation project

1. Goals

The project’s main goal was to help Philippe Model improve its digital presence and make ecommerce more efficient with a scalable and modern platform to increase margins. 

In addition to the main requirement of optimizing the ecommerce channel, we also had some secondary goals:

• Optimize the media plan to increase visibility and conversions
• Restructure the CRM to improve customer relationship management
• Implement a cross-channel reporting system for better data and budget management
• Train the internal team and support HR with strategic hires

2. Our Strategic Approach

Storeis led the digital transformation process by working on several fronts and interacting with the various Philippe Model teams.
Specifically:

• Replatforming and Technology partner selection: we helped Philippe Model choose Halue as its partner for the migration from Adobe Commerce to Shopify Plus, ensuring a more flexible and powerful platform.
• UX improvement: we provided a complete analysis of the user experience, highlighting critical issues and opportunities for improvement before intervention, and optimizing the design to facilitate navigation and purchase on the site.
• Media Management: in collaboration with the ecommerce and marketing teams, we work with a full funnel perspective to ensure that Philippe Model’s online and offline communications are consistent throughout the user journey, working with both ROI and awareness objectives.
• Feed management: we supported the integration of Lengow to optimize product feed management and improve digital channel distribution.
• CRM restructuring and content support: definition of new brand personas to optimize customer relationship strategies and personalize the customer approach. We also supported Philippe Model in content management and optimization to ensure a consistent and attractive digital presence.

• Training and support for the internal team: we worked with Philippe Model’s team to identify the gray areas and missing people needed to support them during this evolutionary phase.
  While waiting for the new resources, we supported Philippe Model by bringing in a consultant from the Storeis team to focus on the management of the pre- and post-replatforming ecommerce operations.
• Forecasting: to build the forecast for 2024, we adopted an approach that involved the finance and merchandising teams in addition to the ecommerce and marketing teams.
• Cross-channel reporting: we have a long history of working with Philippe Model to produce monthly strategic reports, which are then shared with the board. Reports as needed:
  
  • Analyze and evaluate ecommerce performance trends and developments, with input from the internal team, for sales and media planning insights.
  • Compare collected data to market trends of other players in the industry or related industries
  • Evaluate ecommerce performance against retail performance to gain insight into brand sales results

3. Our Technical Approach

For its part, Halue handled all the technical side, working on:

• Replatforming from Adobe Commerce to Shopify Plus: Halue supported the redesign and successfully managed the migration of Philippe Model’s ecommerce platform from Adobe Commerce to Shopify Plus, ensuring a smooth transition and improving the site’s operational efficiency.
• Integrating an external CMS: to provide greater flexibility in content management, Halue integrated an external CMS, making the system more agile and facilitating constant updates to the site.
• Adopted a headless architecture: Halue implemented a headless architecture with Hydrogen and Oxygen – a new headless stack provided and included by Shopify for Plus customers – separating the front-end from the back-end of the platform. This approach resulted in improved site performance while allowing for greater customization of the user experience.

3. Key wins

The project has produced a number of concrete and measurable results for Philippe Model (1 Dec 2023-31 Aug 2024 vs. previous year):

• Lower operating costs:
  -38% in technical operating costs
  -56% platform costs

• Optimized performance: migrating to Shopify Plus and headless architecture significantly improved site performance, making it faster and more scalable. The results were as follows:
  +31% more sessions
  +42% gross Revenue and Orders*
  +9%  conversion rate*Assuming stable AOV and unchanged selling policy YoY

• Increased conversions: increased conversions and qualified traffic thanks to new media strategy and UX optimization.

• Smoother site experience: the improved user experience led to an increase in page views per session (+42%, 5.8 vs. 4.1) and an increase in sessions with active user engagement (+30%). 
  

• Improved data management: working with the teams, we were able to create a forecast that analyzed not only the direct return of digital marketing activities, but also the influence of product decisions and pricing strategies.
  In addition, the ability to analyze the results at 360° about each practice was crucial for the proper management of the digital strategy.
  

• Optimized CRM: the restructuring of the CRM and the use of updated personas enabled an improvement in the performance of the email channel, making communication and marketing campaigns more personalized. Especially:
  +58% sessions
  +150% gross revenue and more orders*
  +40%  conversion rate
  *Assuming stable AOV and unchanged selling policy YoY

• Strengthened training and team: thanks to the support provided, the ecommerce team was strengthened, ensuring continuity and operational efficiency.