Xandres: Magento 2 online store

Xandres is a Belgian fashion brand established in 1968. The brand is inspired by women with style and character. Quality and elegance take center stage in their collections. The clothing by Xandres is sold in more than 150 exclusive boutiques and own Xandres brand stores across the Benelux. And also, of course, on their own online store, Xandres.com.

Their online store could have used an update. Visually and functionally there was room for improvement. The classy appearance and qualitative customer experience of the physical stores had to align with the experience on the online store. A perfect assignment for PHPro!

client

Xandres

Website

www.xandres.com/

tools

Magento

Akeneo

SoftTouch

Genesys

PROCESS

For a fashion brand an online store is one of their most important calling cards. For Xandres it was not only important that their webstore was visually appealing, it also had to incorporate the right features. We started with a discovery process. One of the most important goals was to take the good points from their old Magento 2 webstore onto the new Magento 2 online store. As design is very important for a fashion brand like Xandres, we started with different workshops, where the technical process ran side-by-side with the design process.

For this project we also had to set up some very big integrations. In order to streamline the way of working at Xandres, the cash register system (SoftTouch), the shipping partner (Bleckmann), the stock software (Genesys) and the PIM system (Akeneo) were integrated into the webstore.

CHALLENGES

It was of an enormous importance to make sure that the new online store was future proof. Next to a design with the right Xandres-appeal, a solid foundation had to be laid to grow from. The dreams of additional (big) feature had to be checked by Xandres and PHPro to the budget. That’s the reason why we organized multiple scope sessions with Xandres. During these sessions we looked at the features that would achieve the greatest added value.

Testing and stabilization were also a challenge for this project. Covid-19 didn’t make it any easier, with a go-live right after the summer months. We solved this by implementing a very short feedback-cycle and carrying out multiple, small releases. These ten, small releases took place between the 12th of August and the 28th of September. After which we did seven, additional small releases in one month’s time, in order to adjust immediately. This is the reason why the website has run stable after just two months.

RESULT

The result is a classy, new webstore, the perfect calling card for Xandres. Not only does it feel luxurious and modern, it also has the features a customer expects at a luxury brand. For example, you can check the stock in the stock locator, find your store in the store locator, use gift cards and save points in a loyalty system.