Case Study: Fourfold Increase in Users of Online Ferry Booking System

Amatori is a maritime agency and tour operator promoting travel between Italy and Croatia. The main feature of its website is an online booking system, which allows users to book ferries, cutting out any mediator. Its route network includes connections through Ancona, Bari, Spalato, Stari Grad, Zara, Dubrovnik and Montenegro.

Business Needs

The core feature of the website is an online booking system, which lets tourists and agencies check, customize and reserve specific courses between Italy and Croatia. To do this the Amatori network needs to connect and exchange data with an external system. This external system had changed after many years, forcing Amatori to update the online booking service in a matter of a few months. This urgency led Amatori to a meet up with Pimcore partner Extera and plan a new booking interface. Extera introduced the client to Pimcore suggesting a complete renovation of their site. Pimcore was the best choice to handle different aspects of the site experience and bring formerly detached services together. The website ecosystem, previously split over different domains, was connected to enable a consistent, user-friendly customer experience.

Pimcore Solution

Pimcore proved to be the perfect solution to manage the different requirements of the project. Extera’s developers were able to comply with all requirements of the new API. The new booking interface is able to adapt to different parameters such as language and device. Extera took advantage of the flexibility of Pimcore to make future integrations and quick changes economical and fast. The structure of the website is also easily adjustable to enable functional extensions and implementations. Working on the new booking interface has been very satisfying. Pimcore had all the right tools to build tailored API-driven programs that proved to be totally matching the new website in multiple languages and cross-device wise.

Business Results

The new, adaptable interface and more relevant website content resulted in a fourfold increase of website visitors on a year-over-year basis. Pimcore has brought many extras to the project. Not only in terms of site performance and goal conversions. The marketing team has also benefited. With Pimcore analytics features and learning about funnels and user interactions on the individual pages of the website. By understanding the dynamics of its audience, Amatori has improved its marketing strategies, adapting to new scenarios in real time. The Pimcore API allows them to collect and store all data in a single place. Speed and uniformity of the website attracted new visitors and increased the number of ferry bookings. Pimcore proved to be the perfect choice to satisfy all needs.