Interview: Büttenpapierfabrik Gmund on Magento

We were very impressed with the opportunities Magento offers and how well designed it is. Furthermore, our happy client is confirmation of a good system and good work.”

Rainer Weber, clicforward – Büro für Kommunikation und Design

Can you tell us a bit about gmund and your company?

Our client, Büttenpapierfabrik Gmund is a traditional manufacturer of fine paper for almost 180 years. The paper mill offers a wide product range of currently more than 30,000 different papers in several colors, weights and sizes. The company is based near the beautiful Lake Tegernsee in the Bavarian Alps. clicforward is a Design and Internet Agency based in Ingolstadt/Germany with a commitment to high quality work.

What technologies are currently implemented / integrated in the frontend and behind-the-scenes?

First we started with the frontend and built a complete new theme from the ground up which is totally different from the default theme. In the shop we wanted to place the complete product presentation on one site so we integrated some AJAX functions to load the product details on the product list page.

Together with Magento Silver Partner Phoenix Medien we built an import module to automate the product maintenance of more than 4,000 products and built a distributor query with backend functionality. For the payment settlement we choose PAYONE and built together with Phoenix Medien a module for the transactions. This Module is available on the Magento Connect Site. Lastly, we modified the shop for the German market.

Why did you choose Magento for the project?

The requirements from our client related to design, usability and functionality where ambitious so we searched for a system with big flexibility and a lot of built in functions. Just before we started to evaluate some systems, Varien released version 1.0 of Magento. We were very impressed from the design of the demo store and the backend. The system seemed to be very thoughtful and offered a lot of cool and useful functions.

What other solutions did you consider and/or evaluate?

After a couple of unsatisfying inquiries we evaluated between xt.Commerce and a self made solution build on our own CMS-System. We were convinced by the backend, the built-in functionality and the idea to try something new and high potential.

What are your future plans with Magento?

The site shall be expanded and a second shop with boutique products and a different design should be integrated in the future. Furthermore we think about a small community and localization for 5 further countries.

Any recommendations for people evaluating Magento?

Understanding the Architecture of the System is one of the keys for a successful project. Try it and learn.

Any final words of wisdom?

Varien has set a new standard in the world of e-commerce which will be push forward through the fast growing community and the Magento Connect. We look forward to running more projects with Magento.