We need to rethink our profession and make the shift to omni-channel marketing

"Our main issue was that the Visilab website was ageing and the presentation of our products was not really optimised.
We needed to review it as a whole, and this entailed overhauling its ergonomics, the multi-device adaptation and redefining the content," explains Frédéric Magnin.

"But beyond a 'simple' overhaul, it was important to us to above all make our website a fully-fledged e-commerce platform, which consequently reflects our customers' new uses and habits.

In our sector the competition is fierce, and if Visilab wants to retain its position as leader, it was crucial for us to carry out the necessary initiatives and developments," says Frédéric Magnin.

"Having launched the call for tenders and following the various phases of selecting service providers, we chose SQLI Switzerland. Contact with our counterparts was very good. They have perfectly managed to show us the scope of their skills as well as their technical and technological expertise!" says the Head of Marketing at Visilab.

"We then began the scope definition phase. Workshops were organised during which the experts from SQLI Switzerland helped us to ascertain the feasibility of the project, advised us on the best way to manage it, and above all on the most effective tools to put in place, namely Magento.

These sessions were also an opportunity to realise what is involved in setting up and managing an e-commerce website on a day-to-day basis. This had a direct impact on internal organisation, logistics, etc.; many areas which we had not necessarily thought about beforehand."

"SQLI Switzerland mobilised a project team to develop the e-commerce website, as well as a programme management expert to coordinate the internal activities at Visilab.

With the opening of online sales, the Logistics department had to organise a warehouse and be able to prepare packages, IT integrated new processes, the Marketing department was given an additional communication channel, a dedicated Customer service was set up, etc.

But if online sales indicates an evolution in our customers' consumption habits, it is not an end in itself for Visilab. We see our e-commerce platform as complementary.

Our primary objective remains in-store sales, because that's where customers will be able to try on our models and get advice from our experts," says Frédéric Magnin.

"Our e-commerce platform has been operational since April 2016.

Although the project is almost complete and we are in the operational phase, we continuously seek to improve the performance of the website and the user experience.

We are currently enlisting WAX Interactive, SQLI Switzerland's digital agency, for their UX/Design expertise: how can the constraints of mobile be integrated as well as possible, how can we ensure that promotions take shape on the website in a non-intrusive way, etc."

"The recent creation of our online sales website is just one step. We want to go beyond that and make the customer's in-store experience a digital one.

The next step: the online sale of eyeglasses for 2017. This will require a huge amount of work internally to simplify processes…But it is inevitable.

Our customers' needs and expectations are changing. We need to change with them and rethink our business if we want to retain our position as leader!" concludes Frédéric Magnin.