This post was last updated on April 11, 2024.
A burning question on many merchants’ minds: Is it worth taking the leap from Shopware 5 to 6? The experts at LightsOn have the answers. In this article, they offer valuable insights into their successful migration project for RÖSLE GmbH, resulting in a revamped online store for cooking and grilling enthusiasts to savor.
Today's ecommerce demands a smart platform
If you want to keep pace in today’s fast-moving ecommerce environment and set innovative trends, you need to have powerful and smart tools at your disposal. Customers’ demands and expectations when it comes to online stores have grown in recent years. The result is that a smart ecommerce platform is needed to cater to their needs. And this is precisely what Shopware offers.
The current version – Shopware 6 – is a powerful solution that provides an even better and more individual customer experience than its predecessor Shopware 5, with significantly more flexibility and scope. Businesses can use it to take their online store to the next level, creating an all-round shopping experience for their customers.
Our team at LightsOn assisted RÖSLE with the relaunch of their online store and the migration from Shopware 5 to Shopware 6. RÖSLE GmbH & Co. KG’s splendid new online store now offers customers a contemporary, innovative, and cleverly designed shopping experience.
The collaboration was also honored with the German Design Award 2024. The focus on the customer experience, themed and recipe worlds that emphasize the emotional experience user-friendly navigation and the sharpened corporate identity convinced the jury. All of this was made possible by the technical basis of the migration to Shopware 6, which gave our design team complete creative freedom in designing such a store experience.
In this article, we look at the key aspects of the successful project.
The project: Relaunch of RÖSLE online store with Shopware 6
RÖSLE: A traditional family business
A family business and a brand with a long history, RÖSLE was founded in Marktoberdorf, Germany, in 1888. Its focus has always been on functionality, design, quality, and innovative products. The business is a world-renowned supplier of kitchen aids, cookware, professional BBQs, and accessories.
The brand became particularly well-known in the 1990s as a result of its “Open Kitchen” concept. Since 2012, it has been very active in the grill and BBQ market, offering high-quality BBQs and accessories.
RÖSLE’s premium kitchen aids, cookware, and BBQs are marketed in over 50 countries, where they are prized by cooks and BBQ fans alike.
RÖSLE employs a workforce of over 100 at its headquarters in Marktoberdorf and has an annual turnover of around EUR 60 million.
The background of the project
Our Shopware project with RÖSLE got underway at the beginning of 2021. Shopware 6 had only been launched in 2020 and was still relatively new when the project began.
RÖSLE’s first online store had been based on Shopware 5. The business had recognized that ecommerce was a segment that was growing rapidly and could provide the perfect opportunity to offer customers a unique shopping experience.
But it was clear that Shopware 5 would not be able to meet the business’s needs for much longer. RÖSLE wanted more from its online store. So the company decided to migrate to Shopware 6 with its new headless approach to take its store experience to the next level.
“What particularly impressed us at LightsOn and convinced us to partner up with the business was the team’s professional vision of the future. RÖSLE had already been thinking ahead with its first Shopware project and had chosen the Enterprise Edition of Shopware. That was a positive factor for us at LightsOn and motivated us to support the business with its plans.”
Michael Auger, Digital Business Consultant, LightsOn
The challenge
Realizing the new store came with several challenges.
Shopware 6 was new on the market
Back then, in early 2021, Shopware 6 was still a very new addition to the market. That made the project a challenging but exciting journey. For example, there wasn’t yet support for migrating all of the plug-ins, including RÖSLE’s voucher sales. We ended up having to integrate a total of 40 new plug-ins. That’s quite a task. But, working closely with the IT team at RÖSLE, we were able to coordinate and implement everything.
Complex data structure
The existing data structure was highly complex and meant we had to pull data from different systems. Unlike previous versions, migrating from Shopware 5 to Shopware 6 is not a case of a simple update. Shopware 6 is not just an improved and updated version – it has an entirely new system infrastructure. The biggest challenge was rethinking the data architecture.
Focus on emotion
RÖSLE is known for intelligent innovations. The focus is on products that aid and simplify meal preparation and also make the process more enjoyable. For RÖSLE, it was therefore important to foreground both the product and the emotional response to it. The company wanted the products to communicate an attitude to life and invite users to enjoy life with all of their senses. The online store needed to reflect this. That's why we went for a new strategic approach. While the primary focus remained on product sales, those sales were to be channeled via emotion and inspiration.
Benefits of Shopware 6
Shopware 6 is ideally suited to meeting RÖSLE’s needs when it came to the online store. The latest version has an intelligent and well-designed user interface and is much more powerful than Shopware 5, offering more opportunities to present different product worlds.
Shopware 6 offered RÖSLE the following benefits:
Flexibility and design options
RÖSLE previously used Shopware 5 as the basis for its online store. But RÖSLE wanted more from its online store and was keen to create inspiring product worlds for its customers. The move to Shopware 6 has brought RÖSLE more flexibility, enabling the business to provide customers with a unique shopping experience.
State-of-the-art system
Shopware 6 is based on the state-of-the-art API-first approach (also known as the headless approach). This makes it very easy for very different applications to communicate with one another. Shopware also offers most of the features that are relevant to all online store operators, meaning less outlay for customization. Integrating additional services is simple and straightforward.
As a result, RÖSLE is able to hook up complex existing interfaces (ERP and PIM) to the store with ease and continue to use them, enhancing the shopping experience for customers. And this point is essential to the future viability of a business like RÖSLE.
Use of Shopware 6’s Shopping Experiences
Shopping Experiences are a highlight of Shopware 6. These Shopping Experiences offer unlimited design possibilities. They allow RÖSLE to create inspiring content and foreground, not just the products themselves but, above all, the emotional experience.
To better differentiate and present the areas Kitchen and BBQ, we developed a sophisticated UX/UI design based on the RÖSLE CI. The two product worlds are now combined, which was not previously the case.
Accessibility
Users are diverse. As are the barriers they face. Accessibility was therefore an important factor when implementing the online store.
Accessibility is about ensuring there are no barriers. Ecommerce applications need to offer everyone the best possible access and the best possible user experience, irrespective of potential restrictions. From July 2025, European online stores will be obliged by law to ensure that their website is accessible.
We were very much guided by the standard for digital accessibility when it came to the RÖSLE project. The new online store now fulfills that standard and has been awarded the Trusted Shops certificate.
Because RÖSLE is also represented in the USA., the US store was also adapted in line with the new design and the accessibility standards and now meets all US requirements.
Multilingual online store
RÖSLE is a global business and sells its products outside Germany too. As already mentioned, the USA is an important market for the business. It was therefore important to set up the online store with a choice of languages. It is currently available in both German and English. Other languages may follow.
Good to know for all those who are currently using Shopware 5: The previous version, Shopware 5, is currently in the final phase of end-of-life support and will expire in July 2024. Shopware will continue to fix bugs, release minor updates, and make legally required modifications up until the end of July 2023. Security updates will continue until the end of 2024. That, however, will mark the end of Shopware 5, making the switch to Shopware 6 unavoidable. We would therefore recommend that you consider migrating to Shopware 6 as soon as possible.
The motto: Bringing commerce and emotion together
The mottos “Love Cook Live” and “Grill and Chill” indicate that RÖSLE products are about enjoyment, well-being, and a better quality of life.
The RÖSLE online store will make any amateur cook or BBQ expert’s eyes gleam: From bowls to BBQs and cutlery, RÖSLE offers everything the gourmet’s heart could desire.
But the store doesn’t just offer kitchen tools and BBQs – it also features mouthwatering culinary delights. In addition to the product pages, you will find an “Inspiration” section, where customers can try out the RÖSLE products with a range of tasty recipes.
This section is all about emotions. The visuals are an important factor here. The products are shown in use and tell a story.
The recipe section also aids cross-selling. Customers are shown relevant product recommendations alongside tasty recipes.
Since the 90s, the pink ribbon has been a global symbol of the fight against breast cancer. The goal is to raise awareness.
RÖSLE does this through its PINK CHARITY product range. A new product is added every year. Spatulas and whisks can be found in every kitchen. In eye-catching pink, they serve as a reminder of how important our health is.
For each PINK CHARITY EDITION product sold, RÖSLE donates EUR 1 to Pink Ribbon Germany for the fight against breast cancer.
Conclusion: Cutting-edge online store offers exciting shopping experiences
Like RÖSLE’s products, the new online store is cutting-edge, innovative, and ingeniously designed. The appealing new design offers a customized shopping experience, where nothing is off-the-shelf.
“We were delighted with how the ecommerce project went. Whether it was the multilingual setup, the sophisticated UX/UI design based on the RÖSLE CI, or the complex interface connection to our PIM and ERP, the team at LightsOn had a solution for every need. We found the agency to be a competent, reliable, full-service digitalizing partner.”
Nathalie Brugger, eCommerce Management, RÖSLE GmbH & Co. KG
This successful collaboration was honored in December 2023 with the German Design Award 2024. The focus on the customer experience, themed and recipe worlds that emphasize the emotional experience, user-friendly navigation, and the sharpened corporate identity convinced the jury. All of this was made possible by the technical basis of the migration to Shopware 6, which gave our design team complete creative freedom in designing such a store experience. A big thank you to everyone involved in this project and to our entire team for this great work.
At LightsOn, we are a specialized Shopware agency, having specifically chosen to focus on one of Germany’s most important and most-used online store systems. A Shopware store is the ideal basis for flexibility and an individual customer approach. We provide advice and support for new stores, relaunches, replatforming, and the enhancement of existing stores, for example by migrating from Shopware 5 to Shopware 6.
Learn more
We from Shopware are providing every Shopware 5 retailer with security, sustainability, and the right migration path to Shopware 6. Find out here, when and how best to migrate to Shopware 6.
Would you like to find out more about the Rösle ecommerce project? Then we recommend taking a look at our case study.
