How SportsShoes Delivered Content 30× Faster and Grew Conversions by 25%
Summary
- SportsShoes.com is a leading online running shoes, running clothing and outdoor gear retailer, offering over 17,000 products from 150+ brands in nine currencies across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. With a mission to be “unrivalled in running,” the company ships more than 1.3 million running-related items each year and prides itself on delivering an exceptional online experience.
- To support its growing catalog and expanding presence across Europe, SportsShoes.com needed a faster, more flexible way to deliver that experience, both on its website and mobile app.
- That’s what led it to Prismic: a headless CMS that gives their teams the tools to keep improving and ensures the digital experience reflects the same energy that drives their brand.
“We wanted the best online experience possible, constantly bringing new features to our customers and empowering our passionate tech and marketing teams to engage meaningfully and connect with our growing customer base.”
The challenge: creating a collaborative, dynamic team
Before moving to Prismic, SportsShoes.com relied on a rigid PHP platform, which, at times, did not empower its teams to collaborate effectively and execute timely updates.
- Every content update required a full development cycle, from handoff to JIRA to testing and deployment.
- Engineers could not find the resources to focus on high-impact features.
- Product launches frequently went to the wire because of rigid weekly deployment cycles
- Collaboration between marketing and tech teams was hampered by complex processes and an over-reliance on developers.
- Multilingual updates were challenging, with manual ticketing and slow translation workflows dragging timelines out to two months.
As the company scaled, these limitations only became more visible and harder to work around.
The solution: replatformed for scale and built for collaboration
To move faster and support growth, SportsShoes.com replatformed its entire digital stack, pairing BigCommerce for e-commerce with Prismic for content. With Prismic powering both its website and mobile app, it now has a flexible foundation that helps every team move faster and create consistently across channels.
Here’s why the team chose Prismic:
- One setup for both web and mobile: Prismic’s API-first structure lets it centralize content and eliminate repetitive work across platforms.
We wanted a CMS platform we could use across both our app and website, eliminating duplicate work and enabling our teams to be more agile.
- Faster dev cycles with Slice Machine: Developers could make changes and ship updates in minutes, keeping the team’s momentum high.
The way Slice Machine binds so closely with the engineering side of things was the main aspect we needed. It really helped us speed up development. For example, if someone from the design or marketing team asks for a field change, I can push it within five minutes and they can get started right away.
- Consistent design across pages: Slices helped the team maintain a unified look and feel across hundreds of pages while still giving designers the flexibility to adapt.
It’s easy to lose your brand identity when you’re selling other people’s products. With Prismic’s slices, we’ve been able to maintain a consistent SportsShoes voice and look across hundreds of pages.
- Creative freedom without complexity: With just 10 core components, the team rebuilt over 200 bespoke pages, discovering new creative uses along the way.
We recreated over 200 bespoke pages using just 10 slices… every week I look at new pages my team present and think, 'wow, that looks great and I’ve never seen us use that slice in that way before.’ And it gets added to the catalogue of designs we can achieve through Prismic.
With just four slices, SportsShoes created four completely unique layouts.
And that’s not all. Each slice takes on a completely new look and feel depending on how it’s combined with the rest of the visuals.
- Confidence while editing: With live previews, marketers could see exactly what their content would look like before publishing, making it easier to move fast without second-guessing or back-and-forth.
Live previews let the team edit exactly what they need, see the update instantly. It’s the perfect tool for the marketing team.
- Faster publishing, even in multiple languages: With 25-30 contributors working across markets, SportsShoes ships localized content without bottlenecks.
We’ve been really pleased with the speed from content ideation through to publication, it’s dramatically improved. I’d say tenfold, if not thirty-fold, in terms of how fast we can create and publish content.
The results: faster page creation and higher conversion rates
- 10x-30× faster content publishing: What used to take weeks (from content request to go-live) now happens in minutes, thanks to reusable slices and marketer autonomy.
- 25% YoY increase in conversions: A better experience across pages and checkout led to stronger performance across the funnel.
- 15% higher average order value: Richer product pages and improved site UX made it easier for customers to explore and buy.
- 26% lift in checkout completion rate: An improved flow from start to finish helped turn more visits into successful purchases.
Bonus tip from SportsShoes team
The results above reflect the amazing work of the SportsShoes team: their creativity, thoughtful planning, and the way they built processes that worked for them. Here are a few of their tips:
- Audit before you build: Start by reviewing existing pages to spot common patterns. SportsShoes rebuilt over 200 bespoke pages using just 10 well-planned slices.
- Keep it simple at first: Begin with a small set of foundational slices. Add complexity only when it’s needed. This helps teams move faster without bloating the system.
- Design and dev should work side by side: Bring designers and engineers into the same slice workshops. It’s the best way to align creative goals with technical realities.
- Use live previews to move faster: Give marketers instant feedback on content changes. It reduces back-and-forth and builds confidence in what’s going live.
Final words from the team
What I’ve always liked is how Prismic built its ecosystem around components. That approach has stayed consistent and it’s what gives us such a high level of flexibility.
It’s clear that Prismic was built with marketers in mind. Features like live previews make a big difference. The marketing team can see updates instantly and edit what they need without extra steps. It’s exactly the kind of tool they need.
I really enjoyed figuring out how to build slices that gave us as much versatility as possible. Even now, we keep finding new ways to push the creativity and flexibility of what we’ve already built without needing major changes.