The treasure chamber of Europe with TYPO3
At the Dorotheum in Vienna, the second oldest auction house in the world, digitisation is making progress.
Online auctions
The auction seems like a relic from another time - with real art treasures, hall audiences and telephone bids. But digitalisation has long since taken hold in the 300-year-old auction house: some of the auctions already take place entirely online, and many bids for normal auctions are received via the internet. 3m5. is working on making everything at the Dorotheum even more digital: For the most important auction house in continental Europe, the company relaunched the web portal and updated it to the latest TYPO3 version. This creates the basis for all online activities in the coming years. In addition, the online auctions area has been updated.
Reach expansion
The fact that auctions are held online has given the Dorotheum a much wider reach than in the days when bids were only made locally and you had to travel to the Austrian capital to view an item. For things that were not auctioned in catalogue auctions, you had to appear on site anyway. Today everything is online - from the auction catalogues with the historical treasures to the company`s current jewellery collection. "The Dorotheum is the biggest jewellery dealer in Austria these days," says press spokeswoman Doris Krumpl. That also attracts people - online and offline. Everyday tourists and locals flock to the Dorotheum opposite the Hofburg every day. "Our visitors love it here, for most of them it's like a visit to the museum followed by a foretaste of the café afterwards."
The challenge
3m5. was assigned to execute the conceptual, graphical and technical design of the relaunch of the renowned European auction house.
After its experts had evaluated the crucial parts of the website causing technical weaknesses, 3m5. developed solutions and improvements. During the relaunch a new user experience was developed, a new online CI introduced and several new functions implemented.
A major subtask in the project was a personalised and closed area. The customers' data is stored on an independent web service server that is not accessible from the outside. The server communicates with TYPO3 via a SOAP interface.
The project team focused on an optimization of user experience and improved click path patterns. The implementation of a new CI tried to maintain existing customers and get them on board. Users got an improved mobile impression converting the sites to a fully responsive system.
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