Magento 2 Case Study
eCommerce Website Development for Luxurious and Vintage Watch Boutique
Client in figures
Date of establishment: 1970
Brands in sales: 10
Prices: up to 66,000 CHF
Services
Project description
Challengese: eCommerce Store Development
Watchcollector had been generating decent revenues in their offline boutique operating in Switzerland. The brand decided to scale up their business, so Watchcollector reached out to us to set up and grow their business online and increase revenues.
Discovery Stage: eCommerce Competitor Analysis
We started the project by competitor analysis to define how to make the future online store a remarkable player in its niche. We came up with the list of businesses that offer similar services that our client provided, namely Tiffany & Co, Cartier, Omega, Rolex, Tag Heuer, and researched their websites, social media profiles, customer reviews, product range, pricing, and marketing strategies.
This research allowed us to outline the major aspects to include in the design and development stages of the project. We figured out that:
1️⃣ A sophisticated design of an online store highlighted the image of a business, allowing customers to quickly connect with a brand, understand the perceived value of its products and services, and become loyal to it.
2️⃣ An intuitive navigation not only creates a positive shopping journey, while making an easy discovery of products and services possible but also reinforces the brand value and creates a positive perception of a brand in the eyes of the customer.
3️⃣ Quick contact forms on product detail pages provided customers with an easy way to get in touch with a brand, establish trust, and engage in the selling process right away. The chances of a successful deal would increase if a customer could connect with a store even if the initial purpose of getting in touch was inquiries.
4️⃣ The security of payments and the variety of payment options offered to customers is a major priority to brands of luxurious watches. Also, since these brands deal with expensive products they offer installment payment options to provide more flexibility and increase the chanсes of a sale.
5️⃣ Promotional blocks in an online store can showcase sales, services and special offers, which can entice customers to make a purchase. They can also be used to cross-sell or up-sell related products.
Planning & eCommerce UX Design
Just before we jumped into designing and development stages, we discussed the future of the store with Watchcollector to figure out what Magento version we would land their online store at.
The brand wanted to have the opportunity to expand their business, be able to maintain the system’s efficiency on a great level, and have support services. Based on these requirements, we offered our client to choose Adobe Commerce, which is perfect in terms of sustainability and scalability.
We also researched what features can be implemented with the help of extensions to save development time and, respectively, cost. Thankfully, there are tons of extensions available online that we can install for a Magento store and perform little customization. The custom features and extensions we used are mentioned below.
Mega Menu
Mega menus are an effective way to enhance the user experience of an online store. By incorporating a mega menu, online stores can offer their customers a more intuitive and user-friendly way to navigate their website. Mega menus typically display a larger number of categories and subcategories in a single dropdown menu, allowing customers to quickly find the products they’re looking for without having to scroll through multiple pages.
Mega menus can be added to a Magento store as an extension. We researched several different options for the mega menu and decided to land on one that offered flexible configuration, showed product categories and sub-categories in a multi-column drop-down menu, and allowed us to add promotional banners. So, our choice was UB Mega Menu.
Quick Search Filter
A quick search filter helps customers to navigate products faster and see the desired product range without digging deep into watch characteristics. Plus, this feature increases conversions: by using quick search filters, online stores can increase the likelihood of customers finding products that match their needs and preferences, which can ultimately lead to increased sales.
While the full filter lets customers choose from a variety of parameters, such as collection, glass type, case shape, clasp, condition, and more, the quick filter allows narrowing down the search attributes to just a few, in our case, three.
There are tons of extensions for search in a Magento store, however, we needed one that would enable the option for searching by brand, gender, and price. After a thorough research, we decided to go with Amasty Shop by Brand extension.
Custom Promo Blocks on a Product Listing Page
By displaying relevant and helpful information, promo blocks can improve the overall user experience of the website. We created a custom module in Magento that contained the code for custom promo blocks, determined their layout and styling, and added blocks to the product listing page.
One of the promo blocks promotes the 0% financing feature. It’s a unique service in Switzerland for watch enthusiasts and collectors, so this feature needed to be highlighted to show the competitive advantage of the brand.
Another promo block emphasizes a watch exchange service. The reasons behind adding this block are the possibility for clients to diversify their collections and contribute to environmental protection.
We made custom configuration of a product listing page so that these promo blocks could be displayed alongside with watches.
Custom Installment Payment Information Block
Since the boutique deals with expensive watches (the price of some models reaches 50,000-60,000 CHF), it may not be a matter of paying the total cost for a watch right away. This is why the client provides their customers with the possibility of a payment in installments.
We developed a custom information block for installment payment on a product detail page, which promotes this service and calculates the number of payments depending on the chosen period. The block shows 4 options: 12/24/36/48 months for paying the total price of a watch.
Click & Reserve Feature
If a watch is temporarily out of stock, customers have the ability to click and reserve a watch of their choice to wait until it is back in stock. The “Click & Reserve” button appears on the product page instead of the “Buy” button. The customer request for reservation goes directly to the admin panel so that the boutique immediately sees which watch needs to be put away for a customer.
Contact Information Pop-up
Some people may not be ready to buy expensive watches online. To let them get in touch with the boutique more quickly, we customly developed a contact information pop-up on a product page. The pop-up includes all the contact details, such as phone number, e-mail, physical store address, and working hours.
This feature is a part of the UX strategy, so that watch buyers find an easier way to get involved with the store, which can eventually lead to a closer relationship with the brand, more chances to close a sale as well as the possibility for a repeat sale.
Payment Methods
When integrating a payment method, we considered several factors: reputation, customer preferences, and, of course, security. Moreover, since the brand deals with expensive products, we offered Watchcollecor to consider the option of crypto payment, and they agreed!
So, we started investigating payment methods we can integrate in online store and made our decision in favor of:
✅TWINT, a popular mobile payment method in Switzerland that allows customers to make payments using their smartphones. The choice of this option makes it possible to win customers’ trust and provide them with a convenient payment gateway to ensure that customers do not drop a sale during a checkout.
✅Saferpay Payment extension that provides crypto payments and gives website users access to pay with credit and debit cards and supports many other convenient methods for transactions. Plus, Saferpay supports capturing, cancellation and refund. In general, it covers all the needs for payment processing.
Magento eCommerce Website Development
Browser Language Detection
As the default language of the website was German, we provided the brand with the opportunity to expand their target audience by adding the English language to their website. To accomplish this, we found a Magento extension that enables the website to detect the user’s browser language and display a pop-up that allows the user to choose between German or English. Once the user selects their preferred language, the website will automatically display the store view accordingly.
Improved Search
A standard Magento search finds the full and partial match for SKUs. Our client wanted to make search results more specific. So we installed Amasty Elastic Search for Magento 2, which allows them to get full-text results.
This extension also provided additional functionality for the website our client wanted to benefit from, namely:
- ✔️ Improved search view (pop-up)
- ✔️ Displaying recent and popular searches
- ✔️ English search support
Moreover, our client can now add English keywords for products in the admin panel so that search results are displayed with English titles as well. This gives the brand more autonomy and flexibility and convenience to the customers.
Magento Upgrade
We performed a Magento Upgrade from the version 2.4.2 to 2.4.5. This upgrade introduces security, platform, accessibility, GraphQL performance enhancements. Plus, the version 2.4.5 includes cart, checkout, catalog improvement, Apple pay option, and bug fixes.
Result
We successfully established an online presence for Watchcollector, providing the brand with the opportunity to attract more customers through an e-commerce platform. We are committed to continuously enhance the online business of high-end watch distribution by implementing upgrades, making necessary fixes, and addressing the client's needs and preferences.