About Rapala

Founded in the 1930s, Rapala is a renowned manufacturer of fishing lures and other fishing-related products. Today, the company is considered one of the world’s largest fishing gear and supplies businesses, with an immense international distribution network, global production facilities, and an array of highly sought-after brands.

Live site

Business area

B2C, Customer data platforms, Data management, Digital commerce

Platform

Adobe Commerce, Alokai

Region

Americas, Europe

Industry

Retail, Sports and sports equipment

The challenge

Rapala’s previous ecommerce solution, built on Salesforce, failed to synchronize with the company’s operations, yielding limited synergy. Paired with high overhead costs and sluggish development, the system was underperforming. As a result, the Rapala team felt that the frontend needed to be modernized and focused more on user experience.

Rapala wanted to transform their ecommerce platform into an agile and sales-driven channel. Their goal was to offer superior customer service, unique user experiences, knowledge, entertainment, and value. They wanted a website to be the go-to portal for customers looking to buy fishing equipment and supplies –a platform where fishing enthusiasts would feel engaged to browse, learn, participate, and shop.

iphone and ipad displaying rapala website

Implemented solutions

Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento 2)
Vue Storefront (Headless PWA frontend)
Voyado (CDP / Marketing automation)

The solution

Headless Adobe Commerce Cloud

Rapala opted for Adobe Commerce Cloud as their ecommerce platform due to its robust functionalities that could cater to their current and future needs and accelerate their international multi-market and multi-brand business online. They wanted a solution provider well-versed in the platform for their ecommerce overhaul, so they teamed up with Vaimo for the project.

“Given our unique business structure, we were looking for a partner who could provide us with the proper support. Being in the fishing and outdoor space, we have a very unique consumer and a huge product line –– we have 10,000 SKUs alone with Rapala VMC in Canada. So managing that kind of data volume was a huge goal. Vaimo supports us in every facet of our business and with everything we have needed along the way. Working with them has felt like they are part of our internal team.” –– Mark Van Beek, Marketing Director, Rapala Canada

Elevating brand and customer experience

Rapala’s brand identity underwent a complete revamp during the project and focused significantly on the new website’s usability. The site was designed as a central hub for all of Rapala Group’s brands, with user-friendly navigation that showcases each brand. Vaimo integrated Voyado’s marketing automation and CDP system, empowering the Rapala team to generate delightful customer experiences across all channels in a data-driven way.

A future-ready and flexible digital commerce platform

Rapala’s revamped ecommerce solution leverages modern headless architecture. Adobe Commerce Cloud is the ecommerce engine, while Vue Storefront creates the customer-facing presentation layer. The presentation layer, built as a Progressive Web App (PWA), offers an app-like user experience for mobile visitors to the Rapala website.

Additional features integrated into the solution include a blog, extensive international payment methods, Flowbox (social media feeds), Onetrust (Cookie consent management), and more. The solution integrates comprehensively with backend systems like multiple ERPs, CDP, PIM, and DAM.

“There are two primary benefits to the new Magento (Adobe Commerce) platform with Vaimo behind the wheel. First, bringing our brands into the 21st century, which comes down to the content, the look and feel, and the website’s functionality. The second huge benefit is the new and improved processes on the backend: making it a more efficient experience for our team to update products, content and run promotions. We are a smaller team, given the size of our brands, and we wear many hats. So the more efficient we can be on these processes, the better.” –– Mark Van Beek, Marketing Director, Rapala Canada

Working with Vaimo

Tomas Nyberg, Rapala’s EU Ecommerce Manager, appreciates the smooth, transparent, and prompt communication with Vaimo. “We don’t have to wait for reactions to comments or answers to questions. It’s clear that the Vaimo team is willing to serve us by providing new insights or bringing in the necessary expertise to the team,” Tomas explains.

Rapala’s team commends the reliability and precise budget management of the project. The collaboration was so successful that multiple joint projects have been launched beyond the online store.

“With ecommerce, there are so many moving parts, and timelines are so strict that you have to be able to adapt and trust that the person working across the table from you will hold up their end of the bargain. You need to find a partner you can trust.”

Mark Van Beek, Marketing Director, Rapala Canada

The Future

The revitalized ecommerce sites have successfully launched in Europe, Canada, and the USA, incorporating features such as Avalara’s tax regulations management software. In the future, other functionalities like Adobe Sensei AI-based product recommendations, advanced product filters, and several market-specific features will be added.

The partnership with Vaimo has proven interesting and inspiring, providing a solid foundation for Rapala’s future digital business development.

image of fisherman and ipad displaying rapala website

All projects