After more than three decades, Serge Blanco has established itself as one of the leading references in premium menswear across France and Europe. Founded in 1992 and inspired by the bold yet refined spirit of rugby, the brand has continuously evolved without losing its essence, building a lifestyle universe.
Over the years, Serge Blanco has developed a strong retail network of more than 50 physical stores and a loyal community that values the quality and consistency of every garment. But, as with many transformation stories, omnichannel growth exposed structural limitations.
As digital ambitions accelerated, the technology supporting the business began to fall behind. Stock updates lagged reality, operational processes grew increasingly complex, and the customer experience began to suffer. The team was clear on one thing: the future required unifying physical retail and ecommerce into a single, seamless, and coherent experience.
After years of working with platforms such as Magento and WShop, a simple question emerged: "What tool would optimize commercial performance and guarantee a seamless customer experience across all channels?"
The answer was Shopify—a platform that not only simplified operations but also restored the autonomy and agility the team needed to scale with confidence. This transition laid the foundations for truly unified commerce, with an integrated point-of-sale (POS) system and a solid platform for international expansion.
- 75-80% reduction in total cost of ownership
- 5% conversion rate during peak seasons
- 5-month migration from legacy systems
The Challenge: When ecommerce becomes fragile to run
Before migrating to Shopify, Serge Blanco was running on legacy systems that could no longer keep pace with its ambitions. Magento 1 was powerful, but its complexity proved unsustainable for a lean development team. As the team explains, “Magento is a toolbox” —one that required a level of technical maintenance the business simply couldn't support internally.
WShop came next as a promise of evolution, but it failed to solve day-to-day operational challenges or truly unify online and physical retail. These disconnects introduced critical risks: frequent failures in file-based integrations, stock discrepancies, and ongoing difficulties reconciling inventory accurately.
The rapid growth of mobile traffic made the problem even more visible. The mobile checkout experience was complex and unintuitive, directly impacting conversion rates.
"We were seeing significant conversion loss, particularly on mobile, where the checkout funnel lacked fluidity," explained Matthieu De Vaulx, Serge Blanco Traffic Manager
Instead of enabling growth, technology had become a bottleneck—slowing the team down and limiting what the business could deliver.
The Solution: Regaining control with a platform built to scale
To overcome these limitations, Serge Blanco undertook a strategic migration to Shopify Plus, built around three core pillars: simplicity, performance, and full autonomy for the internal team.
Working alongside partner Axome, the transition from WShop to Shopify followed a tightly managed timeline. The project began over the summer, with the new site going live in early November.
What really changed was the speed. We could suddenly test ideas, launch features, and evolve the business faster than ever before.
From the outset, this was not about superficial fixes, but a complete reset: moving away from complex systems dependent on external developers, and adopting a platform the business could operate with true independence.
"We needed a solution that performed well, launched quickly, and didn't require an army of developers to maintain," noted Julien Fournier, director of ecommerce at Serge Blanco.
The impact was immediate. With Shopify, Serge Blanco streamlined the mobile checkout, removing the friction that had previously slowed customers down.
What changed very quickly was how simple checkout became. That drove conversion rates up directly, especially on mobile.
Behind the scenes, fragile file-based integrations gave way to robust API connections between Shopify, the ERP (OCA), and the OMS (Socloz), supported by Matrixify and Make. This restored full confidence in inventory accuracy and daily operations.
“Stock levels are now far more reliable,” Matthieu De Vaulx explains. “We still have returns, of course. But mass cancellations are no longer an issue.”
The Shopify ecosystem accelerated this transformation further through native integrations with Klaviyo, Gorgias, Loyoly, and Shopify Flow, enabling rapid, no-code automation. Shopify Markets streamlined the management of international pricing, VAT, and currencies. Managing international markets is now centralized and automated, ensuring consistent pricing and tax compliance across all our countries.
Shopify also redefined the role of IT—shifting from reactive maintenance to strategic leadership. Ecommerce and marketing teams gained speed and confidence, operating with full control. More than a technology change, Shopify became the solid foundation to execute today and build toward unified retail, integrated POS, and global expansion tomorrow.
We now have complete ownership of our tools, our data flows, and transformative projects like rolling out POS.
The Results: Control restored, performance unlocked
With Shopify in place, Serge Blanco quickly eliminated operational friction and moved forward with full confidence. Strong site performance and reliable data empowered teams to make faster, smarter decisions across both ecommerce and retail. “We quickly saw the development potential unlocked by this new architecture," the team explained, emphasizing the immediate improvement in speed and autonomy.
If I were launching a business today, Shopify would be the obvious choice.
More reliable, unified data also transformed marketing performance and profitability.
"We use Shopify data constantly. It delivers real value," explained Matthieu De Vaulx, traffic manager at Serge Blanco. This visibility helped eliminate wasted spend: "Before, we were advertising products with only one size left in stock. That no longer happens."
Shopify also brought full financial clarity. “Compared to our previous platform, Shopify costs significantly less,” they noted, freeing up budget for future initiatives. Together, these results validated the migration: a single platform that restores control, improves performance, and lays the foundation for unified retail and sustainable growth.
Shopify also brought complete financial clarity.
The platform costs significantly less than our previous solution, while providing many more native capabilities,
This freed up budget for future investment. Together, these results validated the migration: a single platform that gives back control, improves performance, and establishes the foundation for unified commerce and sustainable growth.
Serge Blanco no longer separates online from physical retail. For them, it's one seamless ecosystem—built around the brand and the customer experience.
"With the POS rollout, all our teams will be working from the same information and tools, with a unified view of everything happening in real time. The goal is simple: one platform, one source of truth," explained Julien Fournier, director of ecommerce at Serge Blanco.