POC, the Swedish manufacturer of helmets, protection, eyewear and apparel for cycling and skiing, has launched its flagship direct-to-consumer (DTC) online store, fully localised to sell in 35 global markets, in partnership with Centra, the specialist fashion and lifestyle ecommerce platform.
Founded in Sweden in 2004, POC is a manufacturer of helmets, eyewear, protection and apparel in snow sports and cycling. Its in-house POC LAB is a hub for intel within various scientific, medical and technological fields supporting its singular mission, to ‘protect lives and reduce the consequences of accidents for athletes and anyone inspired to be one’ and aims to constantly drive innovation, push boundaries, question conventions and raise the bar with its performance-led equipment.
POC has been awarded over 70 international awards for safety and design and aims to be the company to first introduce new materials, ideas and technologies to its athletes and customers. Its technical and research teams take a holistic and explorative approach to safety – developing ideas and perspectives that may not have been previously considered.
To serve its global audience of athletes, POC products are available through an extensive network of wholesale partners worldwide, ranging from general and specialist sports, cycling and winter sport retailers to iconic international retailers.
Wanting to offer an information rich, immersive and seamless customer experience across all its touchpoints, POC realised a process of digital transformation was necessary to create a limitless, brand rich, agile and scalable DTC channel.
To support this transition, POC selected fashion and ecommerce lifestyle platform, Centra, because of its rapid multi-market scalability as well as its ability to serve POC’s global market from one site and on one centralised system. Partnering with digital product agency, Umain, to develop the site frontend, the new flagship site, Poc.com, which serves 35 countries in 4 languages and supports 13 currencies, launched in June 2024.
Centra’s out of the box product information management (PIM) enables POC to manage its diverse technical product data into localised, up-to-date product information. This allows the brand to effortlessly merchandise products for opposite seasons across the northern and southern hemispheres, while also removing many manual processes associated with product data and digital asset management.
Centra’s composable configuration will allow POC to continue to scale at pace and to effortlessly connect new technologies and site features as the business evolves while its simple pricing structure, based on order numbers rather than a percentage of the checkout total, inclusive of all platform updates, support and maintenance, will help lower POC’s total cost of ownership.
Cornelia Lenz, chief digital officer, POC, said: “POC is renowned for its safety mission and innovative products, and as we keep growing, we want to provide our customers with the same premium quality experience online as they expect from our products. In particular we wanted to ensure our fans will experience a smooth customer journey, whilst also giving our products the opportunity to shine and communicate all their technology and innovation. Our goal is to keep improving and growing, scaling our premium D2C channel and ensuring it’s fast, seamless and futureproof.”
Martin Jensen, CEO of Centra, commented: “POC is an iconic brand bringing both design and innovation to play within its performance-led protection equipment. By using Centra, POC now has a scalable and future-proof solution that can support its expansion plans, deliver greater business efficiency and deliver a unique, brand rich customer experience.”
