How modernising 16 e-commerce shops accelerated the management of RASCH
Ringier Axel Springer Schweiz (RASCH) owns some of the magazines with the widest reach and the largest magazine portfolio in Switzerland. RASCH was founded as a 50:50 joint venture between Ringier from Switzerland and Axel Springer from Germany and employs around 400 people.
2016
Zürich
Publishing
Subscription and book shops
Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland (RASCH) is setting new standards for 14 subscription shops for its magazine titles and two book shops. As a long-standing technology partner of the parent company Ringier, SPRYLAB has developed a powerful IT infrastructure that makes RASCH’s subscription and e-commerce business even more efficient.
The challenges: Lean development instead of costly maintenance
When it comes to e-commerce, providing your customers with a seamless and efficient shopping experience is essential. Outdated technology can lead to a slow website, a lack of user friendliness and security gaps.
RASCH realised that its existing shops for titles such as Beobachter, Handelszeitung, Schweizer Illustrierte and Tele were no longer state of the art. This was due to high maintenance costs, shop performance that could be improved and stability problems. In addition, product entry was time-consuming and important features such as the search function did not work smoothly or were extremely slow.
Working with SPRYLAB has been characterised by deep trust, commitment and high quality. The team enjoys breaking new ground, is always thinking ahead and has provided us with excellent support as we continue to grow our digital business.
As modernising the existing shops would have been too expensive and inefficient, RASCH decided to redevelop the shops. All online shops were to be based on a scalable IT infrastructure and given a fresh design.
The solution: Powerful IT infrastructure for a better user experience
The first step was to develop a concept, including a new design, in close consultation with SPRYLAB. “SPRYLAB showed us various options for implementation. There were critical questions and we always had the trusting feeling that the aim was to find the best possible solution for us as a customer,” says Sandra Hasler, Marketing Manager at RASCH. A technological option was needed that would make the large number of shops easy to operate. A common technical base was developed for all shops. In order to adapt the user interface for each title, each shop was given its own look as part of a design template.
The shops vary in complexity. The online kiosk, for example, is a meta shop in which all the content of all the other shops can be maintained manually. The two book shops, on the other hand, have a more extensive range of up to 180 products, including books, merchandise, VoD and courses. Staff can maintain the products using a simple product management system. Special attention has been paid to important marketing features, rewards and vouchers. Access is managed via a rights system, which simplifies shop management. Two shops are also available in French.
A modern payment system has been implemented with Datatrans, and a seamless SAP connection ensures efficient transmission of orders. New features such as a preview and customer reviews also help to improve the user experience. New e-paper apps and web readers with HTML storefronts were also implemented for 11 magazine titles based on our digital publishing software. The shops were rolled out in stages, so that minor bugs only had to be fixed once. All 16 shops were live in less than a year.
Selected technical details:
- Directus as an administration tool
- Datatrans as a payment system
- SAP connection for purchase management
- OneLog as single sign-on (SSO)
Together with SPRYLAB, we were able to implement a complex IT project with two bookstores in a very short time in a very agile and highly professional environment. SPRYLAB brought a great deal of expertise to our project and was always looking for the best possible solution for us.
The results: Accelerated management and maintenance
The performance of the new shops is now very stable and secure, even at peak times. The administration of the subscription and book shops has also become much more efficient. Compared to before, the file storage and filter function in the admin area alone saves a lot of time when entering products. In addition, maintenance costs have been significantly reduced thanks to the standardised IT infrastructure, and the speed of the site has also been increased – much to the delight of customers.
Would you like to learn more about the joint relaunch project for the Blick online kiosk? For the next case study, click here.
About Ringier Axel Springer Switzerland
Ringier Axel Springer Schweiz AG (RASCH) is a joint venture between
Ringier AG of Switzerland and Axel Springer SE of Germany. With a total of
over 20 titles such as Beobachter, LandLiebe and Schweizer Illustrierte, RASCH has some of the most widely read magazines and the largest magazine portfolio in Switzerland. It also focuses on business titles such as Handelszeitung and BILANZ, as well as leading programme media such as TELE and TV-Star. RASCH was founded in 2016 as a 50:50 joint venture and employs around 400 people.
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