Accell Group Unites Global Brands with 1 CMS

• Headquarters: Heerenveen, the Netherlands
• Technology Stack: Algolia & Shopware

As one of the biggest bicycle and bike accessories groups worldwide, Accell Group (opens in a new window) has a lot of brands and, pre-Storyblok, juggled a lot of CMSs. This fragmented approach led to content inconsistencies, complex workflows, and putting the brakes on their goal to use object-oriented UX (opens in a new window) for their website plans. And so their journey began to unite all of their 20 brands under one CMS, and with Storyblok, they’re already successfully at brand number 4, streamlining Accell Group’s content operations.

From monolithic mayhem to headless efficiency

Before using Storyblok, Accell Group’s developers and marketers were in the pits of content management, battling with the outdated monolithic architecture on which all of their brands were managed. The team didn’t just want something better, they needed something better to meet their goals. They wanted a scalable solution that would enable them to use object-oriented UX, an approach that uses schemas and components to organize different parts of a website to deliver a streamlined design.

Then, as Accell Group continued to expand and include more brands into their already busy portfolio, they recognized the need for a centralized management system. And a good one at that. One that would deliver on some important needs their team outlined:

• A multi-tree structure to manage content in different languages/locales.
• Workflows for different brands to use internally on content, design, and development.
• Clear user roles to organize and identify the spaces each brand and its editors would use.
• A WYSIWYG editor for content editors.
• An app directory that developers could easily choose applications from and experiment with.
• The ability to create large content pieces for new product releases and campaigns.
• Anchoring internal links that can be enabled in the schema configuration.
• A headless setup that can cater to omnichannel experiences.

Multiple migrations, minimal problems

From the very start of their journey with us, Accell Group chose to use Storyblok to build four new websites—we’re now at brand number six. This included migrating their brands Raleigh from Magento, Lapierre from Drupal, XLC, and Sparta from WordPress—and, dare we say, the migrations went pretty smoothly. The combination of a simple migration process and a straightforward onboarding process meant that the Accell Group team could get up and pedalling in no time. 

Raleigh even changed their look two months after going live with Storyblok, and all they had to do was update the design library with their new branding, fonts, and colors, with just one click. With these first four brands migrated and managed from one headless CMS, Accell Group was able to: 

• Scale easily across multiple brands on a B2C level;
• Act as a robust system to handle best-of-breed integrations with Shopware (opens in a new window) (eCommerce) and Algolia (opens in a new window) (search and indexing);
• Use and consolidate a centralized design system and tokens, allowing each brand to adapt core components while being in sync with branding.

Around the world in 80 country folders

Accell Group’s brands are sold in over 80 countries, so expectedly, internationalization is one of their top priorities for growth and scalability. Using Storyblok, their internationalization setup involves hosting each brand's space (Storyblok speak for a flexible content repository for your project) in different country folders. Each web page's field type integrates with Storyblok's Dimensions application to support each language, region, and/or market, enabling each brand to deliver seamless content experiences to their global audiences.

Currently, Lapierre offers seven languages and Sparta three, but Accell Group has big plans on migrating more than 10 global brands over to Storyblok, so that language count is set to rise.

Using Shopware with Storyblok

While Accell Group’s setup does not involve a direct Shopware to Storyblok integration, they can still showcase each brand’s products by linking products to external JSON files from Shopware as their product catalog. When a product is selected, additional product data added on Shopware is displayed on Storyblok's frontend along with all of its information through an API link—how’s that for the simple life? 

Planning for an omnichannel future

Moving forward, Accell Group—alongside many other eCommerce organizations—plan to explore growth opportunities with omnichannel experiences. Delving into channels like mobile applications, AR and VR, voice-activated speakers, and more to diversify their digital offering and capture audiences’ attention. With one headless CMS, they can easily tap into those channels, build and publish new components that fit each brand's guidelines, and deliver intuitive customer-facing websites across multiple brands, countries, and languages—and we can’t wait to see it.