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Offering personalized products can increase sales: but what to do when customization becomes your core business and you can’t manage it optimally, spending too much time on custom designs and mockups? Balleristo, a German company specializing in sporting goods, has managed to win the customization battle thanks to Zakeke!
Balleristo, a division of BVD, revolutionizes the printing industry from its bases in Liechtenstein and Germany. Specializing in personalized sports branded products, such as water bottles, footballs, and helmets, Balleristo caters to both B2C and B2B markets with its unique capability to customize from the very first edition.
“I’m the project manager at BVD and responsible for Ballaristo. We are a traditional printing company with headquarters in Liechtenstein and also in Germany. With Balleristo, we want to make branded products personalizable for our customer base in the B2C and B2B markets.”
Reto Knecht – Project Manager at Balleristo
THE CHALLENGE
Eight years into its foray into personalization, Balleristo faced significant challenges with their initial in-house configurator due to its high costs. Despite developing pro-level knowledge early on, the financial burden of maintaining an in-house solution prompted them to explore external market providers.
This shift was crucial as the configurator became central to delivering personalized products, marrying innovation with their unique printing technology to meet customer needs efficiently.
“To get started, we developed our own configurator and make some experience, but we have to cover extremely high costs.”
Reto Knecht – Project Manager at Balleristo
THE SOLUTION
Switching to Shopify and integrating Zakeke for product customization streamlined Balleristo’s operations last summer. Zakeke was chosen for its easy setup and intuitive use for both staff and customers, enabling quick learning and product creation.
This transition, completed within three months, resulted in over 200 personalized products available online, demonstrating a swift and effective enhancement of Balleristo’s customer personalization process.
“Last summer we decided to replace our existing shopping system and switch to Shopify. We decided in favor of Zakeke because we were impressed by its speed and its ease of use for us and our customers. In 3 months we have developed the Shopify world and also the Zakeke world. And we have actually over 200 customizable products online.”
Reto Knecht – Project Manager at Balleristo
Balleristo leverages advanced printing technology, including a six-axis digital printer. This technology allows for comprehensive personalization, in a 360-degree way. By combining Orderdesk and Zakeke, they streamlined print operations, ensuring seamless integration with their existing printing technologies and rapid generation of print-ready files for their printing machine.
“We use a six-axis digital printing machine from a big manufacturer from Germany. This allows us to print on not cylindrical or round objects and personalize products 360 degrees. We need a software solution that we can get the printing data directly to the printing machine. So we use Orderdesk in combination with Zakeke.”
Reto Knecht – Project Manager at Balleristo
Balleristo values Zakeke’s pre-designed templates, which simplify customization for customers. Offering a selection of ready-made designs for personalized products like bottles and helmets, Balleristo ensures an easy and enjoyable experience, avoiding the tedious start-from-scratch process. This feature has proven instrumental in enhancing customer satisfaction over the past three months.
“And the last thing we love is the pre-designed templates on the Zakeke world. We could show the customer 10 designs that he could use for a personalized bottle for a personalized helmet.”
Reto Knecht – Project Manager at Balleristo
THE RESULTS
Balleristo has streamlined its print operations with Zakeke, saving 1 to 2 minutes per order in print data preparation. Now, they efficiently fulfill individual item orders like helmets or bottles, with operators quickly printing and shipping products through Shopify integration.
Customers benefit from Zakeke’s easy-to-use Visual Product Customizer, allowing them to personalize products in just minutes. This streamlined process ensures swift delivery within days, with improved print quality and seamless automation from design to production.
“Thanks to Zakeke in combination with Orderdesk, we save 1 to 2 minutes per order in the print data preparation and forwarding directly to the machines. So this was a great improvement on our process that we get the print-files directly to the machine. Our operator has the delivery note and the order is directly on the machine for him. So he only has to pick up the right product, print it on the machine and ship it directly through the Shopify integration.”
Reto Knecht – Project Manager at Balleristo
Balleristo credits its ability to rapidly introduce new products to the market to Zakeke’s streamlined workflow. With this approach, they can publish a product in 2D within minutes and collaborate with partners to create 3D objects with textures from just six photos. This efficiency enables Balleristo to quickly and effectively launch new products into the market.
“The biggest advantage of Zakeke was to launch new product on the market very quickly. We have developed a workflow that allows us to publish a product in 2D in just a few minutes. And for the 3D preview we have a partner who can create the 3D objects, including texture from 6 photos. So we are very fast to launch a new product through Zakeke.”
Reto Knecht – Project Manager at Balleristo
Balleristo emphasizes the importance of seamlessly integrating partners via Zakeke’s sales channels. This integration enables them to collaborate with retailers in Switzerland and Germany effortlessly, facilitating smooth business transactions. By prioritizing easy partner integration, Balleristo ensures efficient operations and strengthens its relationships within the market.
“It’s also important to integrate our partners into via the sales channels. There are our retailers in Switzerland, in Germany that we have integrated by a sales channel. And so we could integrate these partners very easily and do business with them.”
Reto Knecht – Project Manager at Balleristo
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