Case Study: Crafting Belstaff an Award-Winning E-Commerce Experience

Overview

Belstaff, a heritage fashion brand renowned for its timeless outerwear, has partnered with our agency over the past three years to continuously evolve and redefine their online presence. The result? A cutting-edge, multi-award-winning e-commerce platform that seamlessly blends design excellence, user experience, and global scalability.

Award-Winning Recognition

Belstaff's website has received outstanding recognition, winning three 2023 W3 Awards for:

• Best Fashion Website
• Best Use of Photography
• Best Homepage

These accolades celebrate the platform's exceptional design and functionality, setting a new benchmark in the fashion industry.

Design & User Experience

The site was built with best practice UX principles, delivering an intuitive, engaging shopping experience. Whether browsing, buying, or simply exploring the brand, customers are met with a sleek and responsive interface that enhances their journey at every touchpoint.

Global Reach, Unified Solution

The platform supports Shop & Ship capabilities in 36 countries, enabled through five storefronts unified in a single front-end. With support for five languages, the site caters to diverse audiences, ensuring localisation and accessibility on a global scale.

State-of-the-Art Headless Architecture

At the heart of this transformation lies a sophisticated headless build on top of Shopify Plus, integrating seamlessly with:

• Shopify Payments and Shopify Checkout for PCI compliance and secure transactions
• A fully composable architecture providing unmatched speed and flexibility

The composable stack integrates cutting-edge tools, including:

• Voaydo for omnichannel marketing and back-in-stock notifications
• Nosto for AI-driven personalised recommendations (detailed below)
• Zendesk for customer service
• Klarna and Avalara Avatax for seamless payments and tax compliance
• Cloudflare and Google Firebase powering the backend infrastructure
• Pandectes for compliance and privacy management

AI-Powered Personalisation with Nosto

A cornerstone of the Belstaff experience is the deep Nosto integration, delivering a completely AI-driven, customised experience for each end user across the entire site. This sophisticated personalisation engine:

• Analyses individual browsing patterns and purchase history
• Delivers real-time product recommendations tailored to each visitor
• Creates dynamic content zones that adapt to user preferences
• Personalises search results and category pages
• Powers intelligent cross-sell and upsell suggestions throughout the customer journey
• Enables behaviour-triggered email campaigns with personalised product selections

This AI-driven approach ensures every customer interaction feels uniquely crafted, significantly improving engagement, conversion rates, and average order values.

Streamlined Payments

The platform supports a wide array of payment options, including:

• Major credit and debit cards
• PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and Klarna
• Regional payments like Sofort and iDeal, catering to local customer preferences

Advanced Analytics and Testing

The platform leverages sophisticated analytics and optimisation tools:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for comprehensive tracking
• Microsoft Clarity for user behaviour insights and session recordings
• ABTasty for A/B testing and conversion optimisation
• GTM for tag management
• Hotjar and ContentSquare for additional behavioural analytics

These tools provide deep insights into customer behaviour, enabling continuous optimisation and data-driven decision making.

Enterprise Integration

The system is seamlessly connected to Oracle NetSuite ERP through our partnership with Patchworks Integration, ensuring efficient inventory, order, and financial management across the business.

Scalable In-Store Solutions

The solution extends to six physical locations across the UK, US, and Germany, with Shopify POS Pro delivering a unified online and in-store experience.

Reliability at Scale

With 99.9%+ uptime, the platform guarantees uninterrupted shopping, even during peak traffic periods including Belstaff's signature Phoenix Day sales events. The robust infrastructure powered by Cloudflare ensures fast load times and reliable performance globally.

A Benchmark for the Industry

Belstaff's e-commerce transformation is so impressive that Shopify uses it as a showcase to advertise their platform's capabilities. This stands as a testament to the strength of our three-year partnership and the quality of the continuously evolving solution.

Conclusion

After three years of continuous development and optimisation, Belstaff's e-commerce platform represents a perfect fusion of innovation, design, and functionality. It doesn't just meet the needs of a modern global fashion brand—it sets a new standard. This ongoing project demonstrates our expertise in delivering enterprise-grade, scalable solutions that delight customers and drive business growth.

The platform's AI-driven personalisation through Nosto, combined with robust backend infrastructure and comprehensive analytics capabilities, creates an unparalleled shopping experience that adapts to each customer's unique preferences and behaviours.

Client Testimonial

"We just wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude for the transition to the new site. Everyone at Belstaff LOVES the look and feel, and keep complimenting it! Please pass over our thanks to each member of the team for the outstanding work. Thank you for your hard work, collaboration, quick communications when we had queries on the spot and the positive impact you've made on our digital presence. Your contributions are integral to the success of our projects, and we are grateful for your continued support." — Nikolai, Belstaff

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Learn More:

• Listen to the full story of the website brand relaunch in the Shopify x Belstaff interview
• Read the official Shopify case study