As we did Luxury. Creation of e-commerce site Versace in pictures
In the spring of 2012, the Versace fashion house turned to us with a very unusual task - to create an online store, but ... not for sales. The new e-commerce site was to be primarily a channel of communication with a global audience and a platform for expanding the influence of the brand online. Versace wanted to broadcast a trendy message not only to its customers, but also to those who do not dare to go to a real store with a Versace sign. Another goal of the client was to create a portrait of the target audience on the Internet. Thus, not quite typical tasks were entrusted to the design of the new store, and thanks to them, it turned out to be the most important and most interesting part of the project.
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Donatella Versace is not only the creative director of Versace, but, without exaggeration, the heart and soul of the brand. Turning to the heritage of the House, feeling it delicately, she constantly modernizes and updates the brand. In her eyes, Versace is a selfless love of glamor, sensuality, domineering energy, uncompromising, always fresh interpretation of luxury. All these qualities should have been given to the new online store, while not forgetting about the completely material features and style of offline boutiques.
Here are the first three design options that we offered to the customer:
After several iterations of the above options, we received client comments in the form of a concept from an Italian creative agency with which Versace collaborates. The essence of the concept: dark background, gothic style, circles as a supporting element, different color themes for sections . We have proposed a new version:
In the design of a well-known brand, it is very important to maintain uniformity, so initially one person worked on the design of an online store. When the main elements were drawn and agreed with the customer, we compiled the Style Sheet - a list of the main color and graphic components, hovers, slots, icons, and other elements . Only after that an additional design resource was attracted. We took the key things (colors, fonts) from the Versace brand book. But there was also a feedback - the developments of our designers complemented the brand book of the brand.
But this design option was not final. Donatella wanted the “Cosmatesco” mosaic to be used as a background. As you can see in the picture above, we used something similar, but the picture was far from ideal. It turned out that a special mosaic is needed for the desired effect - from the 9th century basilica of Santa Prassede in Rome. The picture of the floor of this church is used in the design of the offline stores Versace, it was also his “bed” in the virtual boutique. Thus, the client decided to transfer the brand's spirit from the real world to the online, giving the user the feeling that he was literally in the territory of Versace . For a long time we could not be provided with high-quality photos of this mosaic - in the basilica, reconstruction was carried out. Finally, we got them:
Perekroili and planted:
The initial weight of the mosaic background image, redesigned by the designer, was a disastrous 26 MB. Normally, for a good page load, the background image should weigh about 200 Kb. We performed some tricky manipulations with resolution and file types, saving several times in different formats, achieving the desired background quality with a small file size.
Experimenting with filters :
Initially, in accordance with the advice of the Italians, for each section of the site it was decided to apply a different color theme. One of the examples is Donatella Versace’s author’s Donatella’s Hot Picks, her personal “Favorites” on the site. Over time, this section was removed, as well as the color themes - now the background is the same on all pages. Color coding of sections is implemented in footer, icons, dies, while in general in the design of the site is dominated by black and white gamma.
Donatella's Hot Picks section disappeared, but the SALE section appeared. As a rule, luxury brands do not sell in their offline stores. And many brands like Chanel, Dior and Celine do not sell clothes online. First, they fear the churn of customers from offline stores. Sales on the Internet, in their opinion, destroy the aura of exclusivity and deprive the buyer of the pleasure of physical contact with things, kill the premium shopping ceremony. Secondly, they cite the snobbish argument that “sales are not the main thing for us,” and conservatively seek to preserve the brand identity by playing “hard to get”.
Based on such considerations, the SALE section was not originally planned on the site . But the American division of the company insisted on discounts, and as a result this section was designed specifically for the store in the United States. Now it is connected to all local versions. The e-commerce platform Demandware, on which Versace websites are created, allows the administrator to easily remove or add standard sections to the website, so SALE can appear and disappear in different local versions of the Versace store without our participation. We can only guess why, compared to other luxury players, our client decided to please his online shoppers from time to time.
An interesting story came out with localization too. There were no particular problems with the development of payment / shipping options, but there were nuances with the texts. When translating, it turned out that words do not fit in standard round slots. We balanced the size and layout of the text to maintain visual uniformity:
Versace did not set itself particularly ambitious goals for the sale of m. It was no secret to anyone that both haute couture and pret-a-porter are sold mostly offline. But analytics by regions in December 2012 (immediately after the launch of the project) showed that there is still reason for optimism, and not just one. In Germany (versace.de), the average bill was 439 euros, the average length of stay on the website was 5.25 minutes. On the website of the French store (versace.fr), on average, customers left 546 euros, with top jackets and seasonal jackets. Oddly enough, the Italians (versace.it) were the most economical - an average of 265 euros, Eros eau de toilette and sunglasses are among the top sellers. The British were avid for glamorous accessories - the average check amount was 391 pounds, the decision to buy was on average taken at 3.59 minutes, and the site was mostly looking for watches and glasses. Americans turned out to be the most loyal and generous - the highest attendance among all Versace sites, an average check of $ 739, and that’s just 3.04 minutes on average, in preferences top points and belts. Curiously, users of Russian origin have become the most active buyers of the American online store Versace.
A few words about the development
The site is implemented on the Demandware platform and is a standard e-commerce solution with deep visual customization. From the point of view of the customer, the online store on Demandware is quite convenient for content and administration. This is a cloud system, the customer does not need to pay for the server, contain additional staff. The platform takes on all technical aspects, charging a monthly fee, which is calculated as a percentage of turnover.
But there is another side to the coin. The difficulty of developing sites on Demandware is that its out-of-the-box solution is not the best for starting a project like Versace. SiteGenesis - the main application of the platform Demandware - was oversaturated with html-markup and css-styles, superfluous for our luxury client. For Versa, we created a reference application - it was based on SiteGenesis, but included everything the customer needed (and did not include what he did not need). Based on this reference, we created all local brand sites.
After launching the main store, the customer returned with a new order - “store in store” for the Versace sub-brand, the youth line of Versus. Here we were given complete freedom of action, but about this project - in the next post ...
')
Donatella Versace is not only the creative director of Versace, but, without exaggeration, the heart and soul of the brand. Turning to the heritage of the House, feeling it delicately, she constantly modernizes and updates the brand. In her eyes, Versace is a selfless love of glamor, sensuality, domineering energy, uncompromising, always fresh interpretation of luxury. All these qualities should have been given to the new online store, while not forgetting about the completely material features and style of offline boutiques.
Here are the first three design options that we offered to the customer:
After several iterations of the above options, we received client comments in the form of a concept from an Italian creative agency with which Versace collaborates. The essence of the concept: dark background, gothic style, circles as a supporting element, different color themes for sections . We have proposed a new version:
In the design of a well-known brand, it is very important to maintain uniformity, so initially one person worked on the design of an online store. When the main elements were drawn and agreed with the customer, we compiled the Style Sheet - a list of the main color and graphic components, hovers, slots, icons, and other elements . Only after that an additional design resource was attracted. We took the key things (colors, fonts) from the Versace brand book. But there was also a feedback - the developments of our designers complemented the brand book of the brand.
But this design option was not final. Donatella wanted the “Cosmatesco” mosaic to be used as a background. As you can see in the picture above, we used something similar, but the picture was far from ideal. It turned out that a special mosaic is needed for the desired effect - from the 9th century basilica of Santa Prassede in Rome. The picture of the floor of this church is used in the design of the offline stores Versace, it was also his “bed” in the virtual boutique. Thus, the client decided to transfer the brand's spirit from the real world to the online, giving the user the feeling that he was literally in the territory of Versace . For a long time we could not be provided with high-quality photos of this mosaic - in the basilica, reconstruction was carried out. Finally, we got them:
Perekroili and planted:
The initial weight of the mosaic background image, redesigned by the designer, was a disastrous 26 MB. Normally, for a good page load, the background image should weigh about 200 Kb. We performed some tricky manipulations with resolution and file types, saving several times in different formats, achieving the desired background quality with a small file size.
Experimenting with filters :
Initially, in accordance with the advice of the Italians, for each section of the site it was decided to apply a different color theme. One of the examples is Donatella Versace’s author’s Donatella’s Hot Picks, her personal “Favorites” on the site. Over time, this section was removed, as well as the color themes - now the background is the same on all pages. Color coding of sections is implemented in footer, icons, dies, while in general in the design of the site is dominated by black and white gamma.
Donatella's Hot Picks section disappeared, but the SALE section appeared. As a rule, luxury brands do not sell in their offline stores. And many brands like Chanel, Dior and Celine do not sell clothes online. First, they fear the churn of customers from offline stores. Sales on the Internet, in their opinion, destroy the aura of exclusivity and deprive the buyer of the pleasure of physical contact with things, kill the premium shopping ceremony. Secondly, they cite the snobbish argument that “sales are not the main thing for us,” and conservatively seek to preserve the brand identity by playing “hard to get”.
Based on such considerations, the SALE section was not originally planned on the site . But the American division of the company insisted on discounts, and as a result this section was designed specifically for the store in the United States. Now it is connected to all local versions. The e-commerce platform Demandware, on which Versace websites are created, allows the administrator to easily remove or add standard sections to the website, so SALE can appear and disappear in different local versions of the Versace store without our participation. We can only guess why, compared to other luxury players, our client decided to please his online shoppers from time to time.
An interesting story came out with localization too. There were no particular problems with the development of payment / shipping options, but there were nuances with the texts. When translating, it turned out that words do not fit in standard round slots. We balanced the size and layout of the text to maintain visual uniformity:
Versace did not set itself particularly ambitious goals for the sale of m. It was no secret to anyone that both haute couture and pret-a-porter are sold mostly offline. But analytics by regions in December 2012 (immediately after the launch of the project) showed that there is still reason for optimism, and not just one. In Germany (versace.de), the average bill was 439 euros, the average length of stay on the website was 5.25 minutes. On the website of the French store (versace.fr), on average, customers left 546 euros, with top jackets and seasonal jackets. Oddly enough, the Italians (versace.it) were the most economical - an average of 265 euros, Eros eau de toilette and sunglasses are among the top sellers. The British were avid for glamorous accessories - the average check amount was 391 pounds, the decision to buy was on average taken at 3.59 minutes, and the site was mostly looking for watches and glasses. Americans turned out to be the most loyal and generous - the highest attendance among all Versace sites, an average check of $ 739, and that’s just 3.04 minutes on average, in preferences top points and belts. Curiously, users of Russian origin have become the most active buyers of the American online store Versace.
A few words about the development
The site is implemented on the Demandware platform and is a standard e-commerce solution with deep visual customization. From the point of view of the customer, the online store on Demandware is quite convenient for content and administration. This is a cloud system, the customer does not need to pay for the server, contain additional staff. The platform takes on all technical aspects, charging a monthly fee, which is calculated as a percentage of turnover.
But there is another side to the coin. The difficulty of developing sites on Demandware is that its out-of-the-box solution is not the best for starting a project like Versace. SiteGenesis - the main application of the platform Demandware - was oversaturated with html-markup and css-styles, superfluous for our luxury client. For Versa, we created a reference application - it was based on SiteGenesis, but included everything the customer needed (and did not include what he did not need). Based on this reference, we created all local brand sites.
After launching the main store, the customer returned with a new order - “store in store” for the Versace sub-brand, the youth line of Versus. Here we were given complete freedom of action, but about this project - in the next post ...
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/235149/
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