Work

Games Workshop

An end-to-end digital transformation for a leading games manufacturer

Project Focus

Tech advisory and engineering

Founded in 1975, UK-based Games Workshop is a leading manufacturer of miniature wargames, including the Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, and Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game.

A collage of images showcasing Game Workshop's first storefront, AI-generated images Games Workshop figurines, an in-store kiosk screen, and people painting and playing with figurines.

"Welcome to WarHammer" A screen of the country listing pop-up and a WarHammer character on the side

Project overview

Challenge

Refresh and migrate a busy commerce website from a legacy stack to a composable platform, while undertaking a complete rebrand of the site.

Solution

A cutting-edge composable commerce platform with a scalable Content Management System (CMS) and Search functionalities. Packaged in a refreshed front-end experience with upgraded B2B and retail sales touchpoints.

Technology Partners:

Key Results

Successful, multi-country launch, leading to client and customer satisfaction:

month turnaround from concept to launch

country market launch of new platform with warhammer.com

Apply Digital has been a great partner helping us build and launch the new global Warhammer commerce website in 17 countries. Apply Digital worked closely with us to deliver this new modern platform which will help us engage with our customers. We look forward to continuing this collaboration as we evolve our processes and grow our digital experiences.

John Sargeant Global Head of Digital and IT at Games Workshop

Scope and deliver a complete digital transformation for a major manufacturer

Challenge

The legacy Games Workshop website had been serving the company well for over a decade, but lacked modern Commerce functionality and the ability to scale. The company reached out to Apply Digital to undertake an end-to-end enhancement of their digital presence. The team requested a fresh front-end and composable back-end with modern product, content, and search functionality.

With Games Workshop’s unique retail and B2B sales offer, the new platform would also need to support a large network of in-store retail kiosks as well as a robust B2B sales channel.

A desktop displays the Games Workshop page, with the search function popped out

A hand holding a mobile phone that shows Warhammer's online site, two people in the War Hammer store, and someone painting a miniature figurine.

A technology stack designed as a figurine assembly board. The AWS, Contentful, Algolia, and commercetools logos are featured in the image.

A fresh rebrand and modern omnichannel experience, powered by composable tech

Solution

Working closely with the Games Workshop team, we designed and built an entirely new digital experience, anchored on a composable tech stack. The new site, branded as warhammer.com, features a modern and intuitive front end, with multi-language options across 17 territories and full eCommerce capabilities.

The eCommerce core of the site is powered by commercetools, and the new Search experience by Algolia. A scalable PIM, together with a full Digital Experience (DX) platform powered by Contentful round out the powerful and flexible back-end, enabling Games Workshop’s development team to easily manage all areas of the site.

The site also powers the company’s 500+ in-store shopping kiosks, which process most of the brand’s retail sales. The new site also supports the company’s B2B sales channel, which includes custom discount support, payment processing, and inventory management functionality.