Implementation of Shopware 6 for Husse - pet food manufacturer

History of cooperation

Husse is a Swedish producer of food for dogs, cats and horses with over 30 years of experience in the market. The main mission of the Husse brand is to promote a healthy lifestyle for animals. 

Work on the new e-commerce platform started in February 2020, and the new husse.pl store was launched in May 2021. The project was implemented by the Strix team (e-commerce platform implementation, backend and frontend), K2/Commerce Sherpas team (UX and design). The Husse team was responsible for the preparation of the strategy and coordination.

As part of the cooperation, we implemented an e-commerce platform for the client based on Shopware 6 Enterprise Edition and the Ergonode product information management system.

Thanks to the launch of a new store on the Shopware 6 platform, we can offer our customers a unique shopping experience, reaching them in many channels. At the same time, the new system allowed us to automate our sales processes in the digital world - Piotr Cieślik, Managing Director, Husse Poland

Project goals

The aim of creating a new sales platform was to present Husse's wide offer, focusing on proven quality of products and professional customer support in choosing the assortment. Therefore, the online store prepared by us is not only a sales platform, but also serves as a source of knowledge for pet owners about the appropriate selection of food in accordance with the brand's mission - that is, taking care of the best health of pets. 

The main challenge of the project

The main challenge of the project was the transformation of the sales process based on the model of traditional direct sales to digital and building an effective online sales channel. 

Before the creation of the new online store, sales of Husse products were mainly offline, orders were entered manually by distributors/franchisees into the administration panel. When the target customer wanted to buy the food, he was assigned to a specific consultant who delivered the product to the address provided. 

The products were presented during live meetings between the consultant and the client, stationary stands in shopping malls were also used for sale, or they were presented at trade fairs. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this way of reaching and acquiring new customers was hindered -Husse had to adapt its sales to the online channel. 

Shopware 6

For the project, we chose the Shopware 6 e-commerce platform because it is:

• a flexible solution that is dynamically developing and allows us to customize the system to our client's business needs,
• a modern e-commerce platform that uses the latest technologies (Symfony, Vue.js), ensuring high system efficiency,
• a platform that offers good support for SEO and sales in social media (social selling),
• a system with a simple and intuitive tool for creating content product and marketing materials (Shopware Shopping Experiences). 
  

The solid technological foundation of

Showare 6 is based on the Symfony framework, making the platform one of the most modern on the market at every technological level. The flexible and modifiable structure of Symfony allows for a very precise adaptation of the store to the needs of our client, while ensuring maximum efficiency and security. 

In addition, Symfony provides great development opportunities as well as proven and refined solutions, thanks to which programming processes are faster, but also more pleasant. 

Fast and efficient store

Thanks to the migration from the previous solution (Magento 1) to the Shopware 6 system, we managed to speed up the loading speed of the website. 

The user gets what he is looking for much faster (without the page reloading), e.g. when adding a product to the cart. This allows Husse to offer users an excellent shopping experience.

Shopware Shopping Experiences 

One of the important aspects of the project was to facilitate the creation of product and marketing content and its publication on the Internet in order to provide brand customers with personalized content at every stage of the shopping path.

It is possible thanks to the Shopping Experiences tool, which allows for:

• simple design and management of pages with content: landing pages, category pages, blog entries, information pages (About us, Find a local representative, etc.),
• easy content creation for various sales channels,
• design using drag & drop - individual Masters from given countries can create materials on their own and quickly react to the needs of consumers. 
  

Virtual Assistant

Husse focuses on close contact with the client. In order to maintain it, we have implemented the Virtual Husse Assistant - a tool with which the customer can adjust the feed to his client (quiz form) and thus personalize his shopping experience in the store. 

The results of the quiz are saved in the browser, and during the next visit, the user can see them by clicking the "Find the perfect food" button. Thanks to this, he will receive products tailored to the preferences of his pet and will make a decision and make purchases much faster.

Social shopping

Implementation of the possibility of using sales channels such as Instagram, Facebook, Google etc. to increase sales and brand awareness.

• Creating product feeds and distributing them via social media (Instagram, Facebook, Google, Pinterest)
• Managing sales in social media through the central administration panel.
  
  

Advanced product card

In the new Husse store allows you to create extensive content marketing sections - containing photos, texts, multimedia materials. Thanks to this, our client can educate, engage and involve users in the world of the brand.

We have implemented dedicated functionalities with which you can create extensive product cards and enrich them with materials such as a module with a multimedia bowl, which shows the benefits of using a given food. 

Education and branding

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The new husse.pl website also plays a branding role through education and professional support. The customer makes a purchase in the online shop on their own, but at the same time is not left alone at the level of advice. The educational and sales parts are combined, for example, in custom product widgets we have prepared in the Knowledge Corner tab. The user can learn more about the specific breeds or diseases of dogs and cats, and the system will select and suggest appropriate food or accessories.

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Digitalization of the traditional direct sales model

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Due to the specificity of the brand's business model, we also prepared a custom mechanism for assigning local representatives to a given client.  From a special tab, the user can search for the nearest representative by postal code and contact him/her by e-mail or telephone. On the backend, the user will be assigned to a specific representative according to the brand's organizational structure - MFDA (master, distributor, franchisee, affiliate). This mechanism is used during the registration process and when placing an order (based on the customer's postal code in the delivery address, MFDA users are assigned).

Adapting to the new digital reality

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The launch of the shop platform has allowed Husse customers to access new forms of purchase, payment and delivery of ordered products. This allows the brand to provide a safe and seamless shopping experience.

Effects of the project

The new e-commerce platform allows the Husse brand to reach more customers both through the online shop and social media. The capabilities of the system, we implemented, provide the shop's customers with a unique shopping experience and allow them to conveniently buy online.

• transformation of a difficult business model (traditional direct sales model) to online while maintaining consistency in the presentation of brand values,
• simplifying the shopping path for customers - customers can buy online conveniently and quickly (simple checkout), additionally choosing new forms of delivery and payment methods,
• keeping current customers happy and building brand loyalty by educating and personalizing their shopping experience,
• easy to manage admin panel and ability for different team members to create content,
• creating a fast and efficient e-commerce platform that is fully mobile friendly.

The implementation of Shopware 6 for Husse is one of the first projects using this platform on the Polish e-commerce market. We are pleased that the Husse brand has chosen us as an implementation partner. We have chosen Shopware because it is a flexible solution that develops dynamically, which allowed us to adapt the system to the business needs of our client - Borys Skraba, CEO Strix.