Maréchal Fraîcheur grows its e-commerce business with Sylius

Maréchal Fraîcheur is the story of a family farm that has been based in Vancia, in the Rhône department, for five generations. In 2010, Paul, the son of the Maréchal family, launched a new concept to get closer to Lyon residents: baskets of fresh, local produce ordered online and delivered in the city center. Ten years later, with business booming, Paul Maréchal turned to Synolia and the Sylius solution to rebuild his aging e-commerce platform. His goal: modernize his customers’ shopping experience and support the company’s growth over the long term. Here is a look back at a project that is bearing fruit.

Maréchal Fraîcheur: a farming SME that cultivates innovation

Since 2010, Maréchal Fraîcheur has offered consumers in the Lyon metropolitan area fresh produce grown a few kilometers from the city, sold through a website with no subscription required. Customers can order a ready-made basket or build their own from a range of around 800 local products: seasonal fruits and vegetables, herbs, pantry staples, cheeses… The basket is delivered the very next day to a pickup point or to the customer’s workplace. 

In 2020, buying through short supply chains was on the rise and orders grew considerably (due in part to Covid-19). Maréchal Fraîcheur’s e-commerce platform was outdated: it had reached its limits and could no longer keep up. Customers also struggled to access their accounts, choose a pickup point and place orders on mobile. In short, everything needed to be rethought…

So, to stay one step ahead of the competition and improve his customers’ experience, Paul Maréchal decided to start from scratch and invest in a modern e-commerce platform.

The Maréchal Fraîcheur brief

A high-performing, scalable e-commerce platform to modernize the customer shopping experience.

The website is essential to Maréchal Fraîcheur’s business. It is the only sales channel for this small, close-knit company. So, to keep up with customer expectations and secure the company’s future, Paul Maréchal set out to rebuild his e-commerce platform.

For such a high-stakes project, he wanted expert advice and solid technical support. He drew up a set of specifications defining his needs in terms of performance and customer experience (in particular, an easier shopping journey on mobile).

Synolia x Sylius

Paul Maréchal chose Synolia x Sylius to take on the challenge of a modern, scalable platform able to meet specific business needs over the long term. With our teams trained on this solution, we are pioneers of this new technology in France.

Our services for Maréchal Fraîcheur: needs-scoping interviews, consulting and recommendations on the choice of solution, coordination with Axome (wireframes and graphic mockups), platform specification and development, training. 

Sylius, a high-performing, future-proof solution

Synolia began its engagement with a series of interviews and workshops to fully understand the Maréchal Fraîcheur team’s needs. Based on the information gathered, two e-commerce solutions were considered. In the end, we recommended Sylius: the best compromise between a classic B2C e-commerce solution (with all the essential features) and custom development.

Sylius is a reliable solution for building high-performing online stores that can meet very specific business needs. It is also a headless, lightweight and flexible solution that evolves as needs change, where other platforms are much more rigid.

Thanks to Synolia x Sylius expertise, the experience of Maréchal Fraîcheur’s employees has improved:

• Product catalog management is easier
• Weekly baskets are created in a few minutes (vs. hours on the old platform)
• Product pages highlight product attributes more clearly (producer, quality label, season…)
• The e-commerce site is integrated with the Sage 100 ERP

And so has the customer experience:

• A more user-friendly checkout for smoother ordering
• Choosing a delivery point based on delivery day and availability is easier
• Special attention was paid to the site’s mobile rendering and features (responsive design).
• The site is clearer and faster, so customers can browse more smoothly and find what they want in just a few clicks.

A coordinated effort

Throughout the project, Synolia worked hand in hand with its partners: Axome on the site’s graphic design, ABDR on the Sage ERP integration, Empirik on SEO and Paygreen on payment solutions.

Synolia, beta tester for Maréchal Fraîcheur

Synolia’s relationship with Maréchal Fraîcheur goes beyond a typical client-vendor relationship. To develop effective order management processes, Synolia volunteered to become a Maréchal Fraîcheur pickup point. This lets our employees test the entire ordering and delivery system in real conditions, and enjoy fresh produce at work. The result: an even better-performing site, and Synolia employees who are feeling peachy!

Launching the new Sylius site improved the employee experience and the key steps of the customer buying journey. Customers save time, product information is easier to find, choosing a delivery point is simpler, checkout is smoother… The company has received very positive feedback from its customers, and the number of orders keeps growing. Long live Maréchal Fraîcheur!

Watch the project video!