Calumet Photographic GmbH

As an international B2B and B2C retailer, Calumet Photographic offers a comprehensive range of cameras, lenses, tripods, and other accessories for professionals as well as amateur photographers. In addition to its online store, the photo specialist also operates several branches in major German cities as well as in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK.

Calumet Photographic GmbH helps consult its customers with many years of experience to create a variety of products and creates a customer-oriented user experience.

The company was founded in 1939 as the »Calumet Manufacturing Company« in the USA. When the parent company filed for bankruptcy in 2014, European companies were on their own and commissioned dotSource as a competent partner for the support and further development of the existing web store. In line with high customer requirements, dotSource supported Calumet in solving existing problems of the store and developing and implementing new features as well as regular maintenance. The main challenge in this support project was the lack of technical understanding at the client's end which wasn't helped by the sudden disappearance of the American parent company.

Getting professional support was a logical step for Calumet. So shortcomings at the technical level could be addressed by various measures, such as connecting with the Schufa (German credit score) query, enhancement of the product search features or the implementation of the trade-in feature to be fixed. Following the solution for the long-term problems, dotSource continued regular maintenance of the shop as well as the redevelopment of some features. Together, Calumet and dotSource worked with agile methods to implement the requirements, to initiate long-term stabilisation of the shop, to offer customers the best conditions from a technical point of view, and ultimately to increase sales on a digital level.

In addition, the redesign of the web store not only provided a breath of fresh air, but also a better customer journey. The new interface - in combination with the revised high-performance backend - significantly improved the user experience. This will allow Calumet Photographic's customers a more comfortable shopping experience in the online shop, which is also reflected in the increased conversions. The integration of the Trusted Shops certificate also offers customers the opportunity to review and evaluate products, which in turn leads to more trust in the webshop and eliminates potential doubts.