Sector(s)
The new global website with product database is the heart of the specialized fertilizer manufacturer's digital world, offering sustainable technical solutions and a high level of user experience.
COMPO EXPERT supplies innovative specialized fertilizers for professional users all over the world. For more than 20 years now, we have been working together with the customer's marketing team to market the high-quality standards of the products in all digital and analog areas. For a globally active company, the website plays an elementary role.
About the project
Key Facts
• A dozen languages and available in more than 20 countries
• Intelligent database with over 300 products, fully automated data sheets and direct access to daily updated safety data sheets
• Complex rights management and training for 30+ editors worldwide
• Translation management with machine translation
• Fertilizer and use recommendations for more than 60 crops
• Global sales consultant search
• Flexible content pages due to predefined UI building blocks
Information architecture as the basis for maximal scalability
Websites are not finished products but grow with the requirements of the customers and the users. To ensure maximal scalability, the conception of the information architecture already considered the evolution of the site and kept all paths open. Supported by a timeless and flexible UI design, the platform grew continuously after the initial launch and today includes over 300 products, 60 cultures and hundreds of downloads, video, contact partners and further interactive content.
All the content is intelligently interconnected, allowing automated listings and practical cross-references that take the user by the hand and guide them through.
Product database à la Drupal
The COMPO EXPERT product world forms the core of the website - it is not by chance that the company supplies the right fertilizer for sports and golf lawns, agriculture, fruit and vegetable cultivation, ornamental plants, tree nurseries and public green spaces.
With the help of the product finder we designed, users can specify their crops, favorite application types and needs, and thus find the perfect product in seconds.
On the product detail page, the user then finds all the benefits, ingredients, and detailed application recommendations, which can also be saved as a PDF data sheet or printed out. The special optimization here is that the data sheets doesn't need to be kept by COMPO EXPERT but are generated automatically as needed and thus always have the latest information.
Another challenge for us was the product's safety data sheets. Since fertilizers can lead to explosive incidents if handled or stored incorrectly, up-to-date safety information is extremely important. These data sheets are maintained directly in the SAP system by the customer's specialist department and made available on the website via an interface.
Translation Management: 100 words per second thanks to machine translation
How do you launch a website in over 20 countries in just under 12 months without exorbitant additional costs for content translation? Using Drupal's TMGMT module and an interface to the DeepL machine translation service, editors worldwide can have content translated from other language sections of the website with just one click. In the subsequent review process, errors in the automatic translation are then eliminated even before the content is released on the site.
Diversified and interactive content for maximum user experience
Thanks to flexible content modules, we were able, together with the editors, to create content pages that not only explain the products, but also underline COMPO EXPERT's sustainable competence and expert knowledge.
The "Crop Stage program" allows the user to select the ideal products for each growth phase of the respective crop. In addition, they receive suitable explanatory videos and technical brochures.
COMPO EXPERT's digital presence is rounded off by a worldwide sales consultant search, a download center, the integration of partner stores and a convenient module for job offers and applications.
Why Drupal was chosen
When a rollout plan with more than 20 countries was already established at the start of the project, it was clear that one of the main focuses of the project would be the translation and localization of the content. In the backend of the website, there are now a total of 25 different editors from all over the world. This is made possible by a finely granulated rights management system. On the one hand, this prevents uncontrolled growth, but on the other, it leaves enough room for the specific requirements of the individual national companies.
To make the translation process as efficient as possible, we used the Drupal Translation Management Tool (TMGMT) in conjunction with an interface to DeepL and Google Translator (Greek, Turkish and Romanian are unfortunately not yet supported by DeepL ☹). The computer-generated translations were then checked and approved directly in the country.
Another goal of the relaunch, was to make Drupal work as a central product information database for the end user. More than 230 products were entered into the system and equipped with a multitude of technical details. As icing on the cake, a new product finder, based on Vue.js, was implemented with this data.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
