How COEUR DE LION's online store became a gem through Shopify

COEUR DE LION is a high-quality designer jewelry brand from Germany that was founded in 1987. The traditional company inspires the predominantly female target group with classic design handmade in Germany. Timeless, modern and high-quality - this is exactly the image the online store should reflect, which is why the company approached Latori at the beginning of the year. Within six months, we jointly developed a new online store that reflects the sophistication of the jewelry and offers customers all kinds of benefits.

In this interview, Anne van Hout, Head of IT & Online at COEUR DE LION, gives her view of things, explains why the switch to Shopify was necessary, which wishes had to be implemented and why the choice fell on Latori.

To what extent does the web presence reflect the image of COEUR DE LION?

Anne van Hout: COEUR DE LION stands for timelessly beautiful jewelry design with clear shapes and vibrant colors. These design features, so typical of COEUR DE LION, are shown off to particularly good effect on the new website. Enriched with atmospheric images showing styling variations and close-ups of the jewelry, we have succeeded in creating an online store that emotionalizes.

When did you approach Latori and what was the initial problem?

Anne van Hout: We approached Latori around February when it became clear that we would have to change our previous store platform. Our online store was previously running on another store system. Our group had decided that Shopify should be used, as the store system was already being used by other brands in our holding company. The main challenge was to make a smooth store switch to Shopify that would not be noticeable to the customer. In the course of this, the online store was to be split into several country sites. During my agency research, I finally came across Latori, which convinced me with its expertise and years of experience with Shopify.

What benefits have you seen in using Shopify?

Anne van Hout: We came from a platform that was developed by another agency. This platform was not really standardized, so there were always problems or high development efforts when we wanted to integrate other systems or extend something. Everything was always incredibly complicated. In the short and medium term, of course, we want to further expand the online area, and if we want to connect other platforms for this, it is simply important to have standardized interfaces that can be expanded quickly and easily with just a few clicks. In addition, it is important that the system itself is constantly developed further by the manufacturer in order to always remain up-to-date. We used to have a lot of development work and we simply didn't want that for the future. In addition, the costs were relatively high and we were always dependent on the service provider. Due to the complexity of the system, we were almost unable to implement anything ourselves, and we wanted to change that for the future.

How did the collaboration with Latori go?

Anne van Hout: Initially there was a meeting and later two design workshops in which we developed the layout for the online store. That was then already during the Corona period, so we had to switch to video conferencing. All the project work after that I coordinated with Ms. Laußmann and sometimes with the Latori team by phone. A large part of the organization also ran via Trello.

Were there any special requirements that had to be carried out by Latori?

Anne van Hout: Yes, there were a few of those. One main point was that our delivery times had to be mapped neatly. We work with a fulfillment service provider that we supply with goods. It can happen that his inventory runs to zero on an item. Then the delivery time changes, because we have to re-deliver or re-produce the item first. This can take one to two weeks. It is important to us that the customer has a very accurate indication of when they can expect to receive the jewelry, because orders are often gifts. It helps a lot in customer service and satisfaction if, for example, in the checkout process it is shown exactly how long the actual delivery time is once the delivery country is known.

It was also important to us that all the products in a jewelry set are automatically visible on the product detail pages in addition to the product shown. Often the jewelry is also available in different colors, which should also be visible as a selection on the product detail page. This had to be specially programmed by the Latori team.

The gift wrapping option was also implemented by Latori. The customer has the option in the shopping cart to purchase a gift box and then receives his order gift wrapped.

Were there any problems that arose during the implementation?

Anne van Hout: We didn't realize beforehand that we would need an inventory management system. Four online stores went live at the same time and the inventory at the fulfillment service provider had to be mapped in all four online stores. Orders from all four stores have to be transferred to the fulfillment service provider. Now Xentral, as a business system recommended to us by Latori, handles important complex processes, such as inventory levels, order proposals for new goods and the creation and dispatch of order documents in different languages. Through an interface, it is now possible to export all sales to our accounting system.

What are the benefits of the new Shopify store for you and your end customers?

Anne van Hout: Since our new store hasn't been online for long, it's difficult to draw a first conclusion. A general advantage of Shopify is that we have a lot of possibilities to evaluate things and see them at a glance, be it the top sellers or the current turnover of the store. Another advantage that we didn't have before is the fraud analysis for orders. In addition, with this store system we can quickly and easily add other systems and functions, such as additional payment methods. This is definitely an advantage for the end customers, because it allows us to offer a greater selection for different countries. In addition, social media channels such as Instagram can be integrated very well, so that customers can see the images from the social media platform directly in the store and use them as styling inspiration.

Would you choose to work with an agency like Latori again?

Anne van Hout: I would go for it again and recommend it to other retailers. You often don't have the know-how or the capacity internally to cover everything. We would not have had developers for individual functions. We also wouldn't have had the personnel capacity to set up a store like this. That's why I'm very happy about the cooperation with Latori. Of course, the change of store still tied up some of our capacities: Briefings, provision of content, project management, creation of product and content pages, as well as tests and checks.

What are the next steps at COEUR DE LION?

Anne van Hout: There is still some work to do. We still have to adjust a few SEO settings. Overall, we will continue to optimize the store, expand it and add functions together with Latori.

Now in Q4, we are also preparing for Black Friday and Christmas shopping. We are planning an entire Black Week with free shipping. However, we will not participate in the discount battle, but create purchase incentives with giveaways. For Christmas, we will promote products in matching colors and focus more on social media and newsletter marketing For Christmas, we will promote products in matching colors, do a lot of social media and newsletter marketing.