Marimekko

CLIENT

Sector: Apparel & Fashion
Location: Finland

Implementing Technical Improvements To Facilitate Marimekko's Global Success

Marimekko, a well-known fashion and home collection brand, was selling their products globally across multiple channels...

THE BACKSTORY

Marimekko is a Finnish design company founded in 1951 which is renowned for its original prints and colors. The company’s product portfolio includes high-quality clothing, bags, and accessories, as well as home décor items ranging from textiles to tableware.

Marimekko products are sold in 40 countries with roughly 150 stores around the globe. Such a large scale ecommerce business needs a powerful tool to manage their products across multiple channels. Marimekko implemented a module responsible for a product import process that helped to synchronize their inventory management system with their US-based online store. However, for several hours per day, this module didn’t function, effectively causing failures, high server loads, slow page speed, and downtime, preventing their website from getting all the traffic it deserved.

As a result, the founders of Marimekko decided to perform a technical audit to find a problem in the implementation of that plugin and fix it. They also wanted to examine the robustness of their website’s technical framework and infrastructure, determine how friendly it was to search engines, and identify how easy and effective it was for customers to navigate and find content on their website.

To be bold is to be true to your nature.

Code review is the best way to check a website’s health

Technical performance
Marimekko had technical problems with their website’s performance, so they needed to check the website’s health to find out what fixes might be required to improve it. Furthermore, they needed to check whether their website was fully optimized for search engine traffic, quick load times, and customer-friendly design.
An excellent shopping experience is a top priority
The shopping experience includes all aspects of a customer’s interaction with the company’s services and products online. Without a good customer experience, the online store will fail to stand out from the competition. As a top design house, Marimekko wanted to provide customers with first-class service and personalized shopping experience.
Effective marketing tools
One of the top priorities for Marimekko was to gain new customers and build long-lasting relationships with them. Thus, they needed to implement Google and Rakuten shopping feeds and marketing tools that could help them reach that goal.
At one ecommerce conference, we met some experts from a design agency. At that time the agency was working on the Marimekko project and needed an ecommerce development team that could provide technical support. We had a talk and decided to cooperate.
After we successfully customized the import module, Marimekko decided to continue working with us on the development of new functionalities and the implementation of third-party extensions for their US-based online store.

Custom design.
New functionality.
Magento 2 migration.

THE SOLUTION

We performed a technical audit and customized the module for product import. Furthermore, we implemented integrations for marketing. Our range of tasks included:

– Implementing new design
– Integrating a Magento 1 store with kantaasiakastesti (custom-made CRM)
– Integrating third-party extensions
– Optimizing the website for mobile

Technical Audit

New Functionality

Product and catalog page redesign

01 / 04

Third-party integrations

01 Dynamic Menu

A dynamic menu provides a quick and flexible way to access different pages across the online store. It builds dynamic menu trees by drawing the necessary data from the database and makes it easy for the customer to view only those menu items that interest them.

02 Layered Navigation

A Layered Navigation gives customers a convenient and efficient way to search the store catalog by providing filters for product category, price range, color, brand, or any other available attribute. Layered navigation helped to speed up the product search process and allowed customers to find a particular product from a wide variety of products in a smooth and quick way.

03 Abandoned Cart

An abandoned cart module is intended to notify customers about the products they added to their shopping cart but didn’t purchase by sending personalized emails. After getting an email notification, the customer can easily recover their shopping cart by following the link in the email and complete their purchase in the online shop. With the help of this extension, Marimekko decreased cart abandonment and motivated customers to become loyal by suggesting discount coupons in emails.

Custom Functionality

Technical Audit

Our company performed a code review to find mistakes overlooked in the previous development phase and improve the overall quality of the custom code. We produced a detailed report on all possible problem areas that needed improvement. After we found the defects in code, we created an action plan to fix them. Finally, we tested the functionality to make sure modifications in the code didn't cause any new issues. Our audit focused solely on technical performance and on-site factors.

Custom module for import

After the technical audit, we modified their custom module for import. This module helps to synchronize the inventory management system with Marimekko’s US store. Previously, all the product information was sent and processed as a whole. A large flow of data caused slow page speed, high server loads, and downtime. We divided data into small pieces providing a smooth flow of information between the inventory management system and the store.

Product and catalog page redesign

A product page is a place where the customer is likely to make a decision on whether to buy the product or not. To provide customers with an excellent shopping experience we redesigned the Marimekko product and category pages. We added various features such as the possibility to check product availability in the store, size chart and information about material and care. We added dynamically updating filters and loaded infinite scrolling pagination to the catalog page. The redesign helped our client make the purchasing process more flexible and improve the customer's search experience.

One-page checkout

The goal of a one-page checkout is to collect all the necessary information and complete the purchase as fast as possible. The entire checkout process takes place on a single page in order to help to reduce shopping cart abandonment.

Google Shopping feed

We implemented Google Shopping feed on Magento. Google Shopping is a popular ecommerce marketplace which enables customers to search for items easily. By using Google Merchant, online shops can upload their shops’ and products’ information on Google Shopping. This extension gives them the option to place Magento products in your Google Merchant account smoothly. Now Marimekko products are available on Google shop, a new customer channel to boost their marketing and sales performance.

Rakuten

We installed modules for product feeds and set up Rakuten pixel. Rakuten is one of the most popular ecommerce marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. Rakuten Magento integration enabled Marimekko to list their products on the Rakuten marketplace. Furthermore, Marimekko could synchronize the inventory, price, and other product details between the Magento store and Rakuten and manage all Rakuten orders in the Marimekko online shop. This integration helped the design house to sell more products and boost revenue.

Widget with the product description

One the product page there is a custom widget with a product description. It allows customers to learn more about a tech gadget and make an informed buying decision

Custom Functionality

7 modules developed.

COLLABORATION

It was a pleasure working side-by-side with Marimekko on their project

It took us about six months to integrate third-party extensions and redesign the product page. Our development team included four dedicated specialists such as front-end and backend developer, QA specialist, and a project manager. The rest of the time we worked on the support and maintenance of their online store.

Months:

of work

Technical audit

Product page
redesign

Backend development

Front-end
development

Third-party
API integration

Magento 1
Integration
with kantaasiakastesti
CRM

Website mobile
optimization

Superior shopping experience

After fixing all the technical issues, the website started working like clockwork. The redesign of the product page and new functionalities allowed Marimekko to provide easy navigation and improve customer experience on the website.

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