One platform behind Hornby, Airfix and Scalextric
A multi-brand ecommerce platform for the century-old maker of Hornby, Airfix, Scalextric, Corgi and Humbrol, connected to Bloomreach for search and marketing and Antavo for loyalty.
- Sector
- Toys, models and ecommerce
Results
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1,373%
increase in annual online revenue over a five-year partnership
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34%
more email revenue within four months of launching Bloomreach
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10%
higher conversion across Hornby's websites within two months of implementing Bloomreach search
The situation
A century of models, sold mostly through shops
Hornby Hobbies makes some of Britain's best-known hobby brands, including Hornby model railways, Airfix kits, Scalextric slot cars, Corgi die-cast models and Humbrol paints. For most of its history it sold through retailers and model shops. It set out to sell direct and build its own relationship with collectors.
What needed to change
Separate brands, separate accounts, and a platform that couldn't keep up
Its 12 brands ran across 28 domains, each with its own accounts, forums and clubs, so a collector who bought Hornby and Scalextric was two different customers. The existing platform couldn't support the direct growth the business wanted, and collectors expect a lot from a hobby brand online, from pre-orders and stock alerts to club membership and the right paint for every kit.
What we did
One platform, one account, every brand
We built a multi-brand ecommerce platform on Concrete5, with a theme for each brand and a single Hornby Hobbies account that works across all of them. It handles pre-orders, club memberships, gift vouchers, stock alerts, multiple languages and currencies, and the paints each Airfix kit needs. Orders and stock flow to and from Hornby's back office systems. We moved accounts, orders and the Hornby, Scalextric and Airfix forums across.
Behind it sits a Symfony application on AWS, built to scale for launch-day peaks, with Braintree for card, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay payment processing. Most customers didn't know Hornby's internal product names, so collectors could shop by era and collection, and a new advice section helped newcomers into the hobby.
We then connected Bloomreach for search, merchandising and marketing automation, and Antavo for Hobby Rewards, the loyalty programme that lets collectors earn points across every brand.
What changed
A platform to keep improving
Hornby Hobbies sells direct across its brands on one platform, with one view of each customer. We keep testing and improving it, and we still host and support the platform. Over our five-year partnership, Hornby Hobbies' annual online revenue grew by 1,373%.
In the first full month after launch, across Hornby, Scalextric, Airfix and Corgi, revenue rose 53% and conversion rates rose 123% on average.
What the client says
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We worked with Rawnet to completely transform the digital offering across the group. Their process is brilliant, helping us define how to service our customers better and what technologies to use. The results since the launch have been impressive.
Dan Carter
Airfix Product Owner, Hornby Hobbies
