The Client
1900 Accessories is born from the manufacturing heritage of Manifattura Ceraolo Moroni, a Swiss company based in Kriens, in the heart of the Lucerne district, and for over forty years a partner to the most prestigious international high-end watchmaking and jewelry houses.
The name "1900" comes from the acronym MCM, Manifattura Ceraolo Moroni, translated into Roman numerals: an identifying mark that encapsulates the perfect synthesis of artisanal savoir-faire, attention to detail, and a contemporary vision of luxury.
Conceived in Italy and engineered in Switzerland, 1900 accessories are designed as objects intended to accompany the time and daily gestures of those seeking authentic, discreet, and lasting elegance. Each creation takes shape through entirely manual processes, entrusted to master artisans who exclusively select the highest quality full-grain leathers and custom-made stainless steel metal components, inspired by the iconic geometries of cases designed by Gérald Genta.
The Tempo Grande collection interprets contemporary travel through a sophisticated range of bags and small leather goods: backpacks, briefcases, weekenders, and crossbody bags interact with travel pouches, wallet cardholders, and credit cardholders in a refined balance of functionality, design, and aesthetic presence.
1900 Accessories targets an international clientele that recognizes the value of manufacturing excellence, silent exclusivity, and an experiential luxury capable of telling a story made of time, material, and attention to detail.
The Challenge
1900 Accessories had a Shopify store that needed an evolution to align the digital experience with the brand's luxury and experiential positioning.
Interventions focused on:
- optimizing the mobile experience, with smoother and more immersive navigation;
- improving performance and loading times;
- enhancing visual identity through more consistent and premium editorial content, images, and typography;
- revising the storytelling of the institutional sections "Craftsmanship" and "Our Story," to better express the brand's artisanal heritage;
- optimizing the customer journey and conversion path, with a more intuitive and elegant product presentation;
Furthermore, to facilitate a structured and valuable brand launch, 1900 requested our support for planning advertising campaigns on Meta and Google and identifying partners for event creation and press management.
Objectives
- Conduct a comprehensive audit of the store – visual, functional, and technical – to define a strategic intervention roadmap
- Perform a complete e-commerce restyling with a theme change, ensuring an excellent mobile-first experience
- Develop custom personalizations to overcome the theme's native limitations and meet the specific needs of the luxury brand
- Optimize performance (Core Web Vitals) on the homepage, listing pages, and product pages
- Strengthen brand identity through the integration of proprietary fonts, logos, and consistent visual elements throughout the store
- Define a comprehensive advertising strategy for the launch, including KPIs, targets, budget, and campaign planning
The Hoculus Solution
1. Discovery and Strategic Audit
The process began with an in-depth audit of the existing store, structured into visual, functional, and technical analysis. The audit included a brand overview, expert analysis of information architecture and user experience, as well as a benchmark with reference stores in the luxury segment.
The output was a comprehensive roadmap that categorized interventions into must-have and nice-to-have, prioritizing client requests and integrating them with strategic insights from the analysis. This roadmap guided all subsequent project phases, from planning to go-live.
2. Restyling and Theme Configuration
The core of the project was the Front-end restyling with a complete and meticulous configuration of all main templates:
- Homepage: redesigned with new hero sections, product sliders with greater visual prominence, and storytelling sections
- Product pages (PDP): optimized layout with full-width image gallery on mobile, integrated carousel indicators, removal of superfluous elements, and improved visual hierarchy
- Collection pages (PLP): enlarged product cards, visible color variants, and more intuitive navigation
- Institutional pages: "Craftsmanship," "Our Story," and "Materials" rethought to enhance textual content with images, color fills, and a more engaging layout
- Service pages: Contacts, FAQ, Policy reworked for visual consistency
- Footer: completely restructured with company data, brand logo, and correct arrangement of links and social icons
The intervention covered visual aspects, readability, typographic harmonization, content hierarchy, navigation (sticky menu, announcement bar, language/currency switch), and conversion optimization (uniform CTAs, upsell/cross-sell in the cart).
3. Custom Theme Developments
To overcome the theme's native limitations and address the specificities of a luxury brand, several tailor-made customizations were developed:
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Custom Video Section: creation of a fully customizable video section with title, subtitle, text, and CTA that can be freely positioned, shadow effect for readability, granular control over font sizes, and responsive adaptation with separate mobile format management
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Rollover image for color variant: modification of product cards to show a different secondary image on mouse hover based on the selected color variant, with global activation toggle!
- Quick Add always visible: the Quick Add/Quick View button, natively visible only on hover on desktop, was made permanent by replicating the mobile layout, with a toggle possibility for future A/B tests
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PDP Mobile Optimization: full-width product images, repositioned magnifying glass, carousel indicators integrated into the image with customizable colored background
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Enriched Content Block in PDP: ability to insert images into the product page content block, with responsive layout (image on the left and text on the right on desktop, below the text on mobile) and visibility toggle!
- Default photo modification by variant: customized management of default images on the product page based on the selected variant, with ALT tag compilation for accessibility
- Password Template with video background: redesign of the password page for the pre-launch phase, with a full-screen artisanal video as background and a central window with logo and information
- Logo integration in multiple sections: ability to insert the 1900 logo in "Image with text overlay," "Timeline" sections, and the footer, with pixel size control
- Delivery forecast: configurable block in the PDP with global settings for shipping days, cutoff times, and closing periods, showing customers the estimated delivery date
- Customizable privacy checkbox: privacy acceptance checkbox inserted in all forms (contact, newsletter, pop-up), with customizable text and links to policies
- External links in new tab: management of opening external links in a new tab to avoid interrupting navigation
4. Visual Identity and Brand Consistency
To ensure maximum consistency with the luxury brand's identity, a custom development was performed to upload and activate the brand's font within the theme, with an activation checkbox in the global settings.
5. Performance Optimization
An in-depth optimization of Core Web Vitals was conducted on all key pages of the store:
- Homepage
- Collection pages (PLP)
- Product pages (PDP)
The intervention involved resource loading, image optimization, critical rendering, and reduction of blocking JavaScript, with the aim of ensuring a fast and fluid browsing experience consistent with the expectations of a luxury audience.
6. Communication and Email Marketing
The project included the structuring of direct communication channels with the client:
- Custom email templates: customization of Shopify's transactional emails (order confirmation, fulfillment, abandoned cart) with the brand's visual elements
- Newsletter welcome flow: creation of an automated flow and its email template to welcome new newsletter subscribers, with fonts and style consistent with the brand
7. Strategic ADS Consulting
In parallel with the store's restyling, comprehensive strategic consulting was provided to structure digital advertising activities in view of the launch:
- KPI and target definition: identification of Key Performance Indicators and confirmation of the target audience, with a genderless and inclusive approach to communication
- Advertising content planning: guidelines for creating and managing content for Meta Ads and Google Ads, with emphasis on design, perceived quality, attention to detail, and sensory identity
- Ad account configuration: complete setup of Meta Ads and Google Ads accounts with connection to Shopify
- Annual budget planning: proposal for annual media budget allocation with simulation of spending phases and expected monthly results
- Launch campaign strategy: design of campaigns for pre-launch and launch phases, including presale strategy with reserved access via discount code for followers and newsletter subscribers
- Market definition: analysis and identification of priority markets, with a data-driven approach based on collecting real data via newsletter and presale before the official launch
8. Review and Feedback
The review process was structured iteratively:
- Theme preview: delivery of a preview link to the client for verification on all devices
- Presentation call: dedicated session to present the new theme with the client's team
- Post-review rework: precise processing of received feedback, with interventions both via Shopify editor and via custom development where necessary
- Post-launch debugging cycle: resolution of technical anomalies found after publication
Results
User Experience and Design
- Store completely redesigned with a modern and performing theme, optimized for a mobile-first experience
- Brand storytelling enhanced through immersive institutional pages with full-screen videos, timeline sections, and impactful visual content
- Visual identity strengthened and consistent across every touchpoint: from the store to emails, from the password page to the footer
Functionality and Conversion
- Over 10 custom personalizations developed to overcome the theme's native limitations and meet the specific needs of the luxury segment
- Optimized purchasing path with always visible Quick Add, delivery forecast, product card with rollover for color variant, and redesigned mobile image gallery
- Structured post-purchase communication with customized email templates and automated welcome flow
Technical Performance
- Core Web Vitals optimized on the homepage, listing pages, and product pages to ensure loading speed appropriate for the brand's luxury positioning
Strategy and Growth
- Comprehensive advertising strategy ready for launch, with defined KPIs, planned budget, and campaigns designed for Meta Ads and Google Ads
- Structured presale framework to engage the community, reward early supporters, and collect data on markets of interest before the official launch