A leading luxury brand was faced with the delicate task of managing its content in five separate languages, making it difficult to coordinate translations and posing challenges in terms of internal organization for the deployment of new content and products. The e-commerce teams were working in isolation, relying on manual, siloed procedures, which caused delays in deliveries and highlighted the need to improve translation quality.
Solve Quality and International Deployment Problems
The approach adopted to address the challenges of this luxury brand involved the integration of our Wezen platform, an advanced technological solution offering capabilities such as automated job creation following translation submissions, international workflow tracking, and linguistic quality control functionalities. Synchronization of existing translations to serve as a reference for future localizations, automatic assignment of tasks to linguists, thorough quality control and management of localization databases were key elements in maintaining linguistic excellence.
The start of the project was marked by 3 stages of platform configuration. Initially, Ando helped the company with the international configuration of its CMS and PIM instances, SFCC and Akeneo. This enabled Wezen to be integrated into these 2 systems, with native connectivity between the 3 solutions. After these first 2 milestones, a test phase is obviously essential. 3e Step: configure Wezen to facilitate the management of non-PIM / CMS content, in this case newsletters. These other types of content could then be easily imported onto the platform. This global configuration enabled SFCC content to be sent via our connector to Wezen, and the same for product catalogs. On the other, newsletter files are imported directly into Wezen for translation.
Wezen and Ando's Accompanying
Ando Factory provided comprehensive training to the luxury house’s teams on the optimal use of Wezen. The training was structured around sessions demonstrating the main tools and introducing other functionalities to anticipate future projects and needs. Ando and Wezen provided constant support, making themselves available for any questions relating to the tool and its new features.
In addition, Ando guided this illustrious fashion house in the translation of its e-commerce site using Wezen, and in all its marketing communications in French, Italian and German. Léa Lombardi, e-commerce consultant at Ando Factory, worked closely with internal teams to identify all the content to be translated, organizing workshops with those responsible for content on the site, including the e-Merchandising, content, SEO, operational and CRM teams.
Regular meetings have been set up with all stakeholders to facilitate coordination and communication between the various players involved in the project, thus ensuring smooth and efficient implementation.
Clear and Precise Objectives
The main objectives of this project were to comply with local regulations in France, Germany and Italy, while improving the user experience (UX) and boosting conversion rates in these three key European markets.
The project was rolled out in four main phases:
Project Definition
This initial phase was devoted to establishing the scope of the translation project, focusing on the three main languages, following an assessment of performance in the various European markets. At this stage, having clearly defined the scope and assessed the volume of content to be translated, Datawords, the translation agency, designated the appropriate linguistic resources, including the number of translators and proofreaders per language required.
The aim was also to identify the internal resources to be mobilized and to organize the work according to internal capacities. Thanks to this data, it was possible to draw up a precise schedule for the efficient management of the translation project, determine an estimated launch date and integrate all stakeholders by presenting them with the action plan and provisional deadlines.
Translation and Validation
After the kick-off meeting, a style guide and glossary were drawn up with the in-house teams and integrated into Wezen to serve as a basis and reference before translations began.
The aim was to maintain consistency in the translations and adhere to the company’s communication tone in all three languages. The translation phase, which lasted between three and four months, involved 15 people translating, revising and validating content in Italian, German and French. This crucial validation phase was designed to guarantee the accuracy of the translations and the overall quality of the content. After this stage, meticulous coordination was required to ensure smooth integration of the content on websites, taking into account the different integration processes, whether manual or automated via the Wezen platform.
The Tests
This stage involved various teams:
The translators checked the accuracy of the translations in the context of the site and the overall quality.
Our in-house teams have identified any problems with page layout, broken links or call-to-action (CTA) optimization.
The Launch
After the testing phase, a complete inventory of bugs and problems was drawn up, followed by a correction phase involving collaboration with the appropriate contacts to adjust translated content and resolve layout issues.
A final decision meeting (GO NO GO) was then organized with the stakeholders to review all the obstacles and non-obstacles identified, determining whether the launch could go ahead as planned, or whether a postponement was necessary to address the remaining issues.
The final decision (Green Light) allowed the launch to go ahead on schedule, marking the success of the project.
"The project for this prestigious luxury house was a very rewarding challenge for the entire Wezen team! It has enabled us to make significant advances in the management of Page Designer in SFCC. We're proud to have been able to help this customer in its quest for efficiency and reliability in its international deployment processes."
Results Beyond Expectations
Today, the “run” phase testifies to the effectiveness of the collaboration between Ando and Wezen, with more fluid and efficient translation project management, considerably reducing time to market.
Only 2 people work on each of the languages into which content is translated. The whole process was completed in less than a week, thanks to Wezen and the work of Ando’s teams. Teams are now working optimally to deliver content to different markets.
What are the results? In addition to the project’s success, the brand reported a 10% increase in traffic in France and a slightly higher conversion rate in Germany. And this is just the beginning
This case study illustrates not only a brand’s journey to operational excellence, but also the crucial importance of appropriate content management and localization in the dynamic landscape of e-commerce and luxury brand management. With partners like Ando and Wezen, the road to innovation and success seems not only possible, but paved with opportunities for growth and improvement.
