Monnaie de Paris, the new flip side of the coin!

The Monnaie de Paris, what is it?

The Monnaie de Paris has crossed centuries by adapting to the evolutions of its time. From hammer striking to the latest lasers, the institution has managed to develop new manufacturing techniques. Internationally, it is recognized as one of the top five highest-quality mints in the world and ranks among the most dynamic monetary establishments in terms of technological innovations.

The Monnaie de Paris is also a vibrant place dedicated to craftsmanship. Inaccessible to the general public since its creation in 1775, the 11 CONTI site opened its doors to the public in late 2017. The institution then offered a new comprehensive experience, a museum tour that allows visitors to discover the art professions, a completely redesigned online shop offering creations by its artisans, and a wide range of merchandise.

By its nature, money as a transactional object has always been a true creator of connections. Besides its function as a medium of exchange, it is also a tool for transmission, commemoration, and celebration. We remember the mini-medal released on the same evening, celebrating the victory of the French team during the 2018 World Cup. Similarly, in 2019, during the tragic incident at Notre-Dame de Paris, the institution drew from its rich collections to offer a whole range of products for sale, with a significant portion of the proceeds donated to the Fondation du Patrimoine to contribute to the reconstruction efforts.

In 2020, a “MERCI” mini-medal was created to thank all the nation’s forces who fought during the health crisis, with the profits being donated to the Fondation de France. In February 2022, the Monnaie de Paris launched a new mini-medal in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are bravely fighting to defend their freedom, with all profits being donated to the Red Cross to support the populations affected by this conflict.

Focus on the projet

Monnaie de Paris was in search of a trustworthy partner who could provide advice and support throughout the deployment of a new platform, ensuring business continuity, but above all, accelerating its digital presence for its customers by enhancing the connection with the online store.

This re-platforming allows for a better user experience across multiple channels and turns them into real drivers of foot traffic to physical stores through optimized omni-channel journeys. This significant transformation also presents an opportunity to enhance the operational efficiency of internal teams by providing a user-friendly and efficient tool while streamlining and standardizing the processes and tools used.

The wealth of the Adobe Commerce platform is harnessed to drive business growth. With this project, we already have the Paris Olympics in 2023 in mind. Indeed, the commemorative coin programs dedicated to this event are always highly significant for the minting institutions of host countries.

Monnaie de Paris entrusted us with a significant challenge: creating an entirely new digital platform with a user-centric vision, enabling the creation of a new omni-channel user experience, while enhancing operational efficiency for the employees.

Challenge Accepted for DATASOLUTION ! 

Let us explain how we rose to the challenge!

Our teams were faced with a significant challenge! Serving the different personas required designing an experience that demonstrated empathy towards their expectations, which could sometimes be very different, or even opposing.

The redesign project had the following objectives:

• Optimize the ergonomics and user experience (UX/UI).
• Facilitate understanding of the different facets of Monnaie de Paris (products, cultural and institutional venue, craftsmanship).
• Create a commerce platform offering an omni-channel experience.
• Enhance the mobile experience.
• Develop processes to better meet B2B needs.
• Provide an improved shopping and customer loyalty experience.
• Optimize search engine optimization SEO).
• Modernize technical aspects such as the content management system (CMS) and the search engine.

4 x 4, tensions and issues

A few tensions…

In the digital realm, we had to establish overall coherence and create bridges between user journeys, a true link connecting each audience to Monnaie de Paris.

More broadly, the redesign of the digital platform requires resolving certain tensions, including :

• To propose more “inspirational” user journeys.
• To make the platform a cultural space that opens up to a wider audience.
• To address specific functional and technical needs of Monnaie de Paris.
• To offer journeys based on specific needs and contents for expert numismatists.

For this, the DATASOLUTION teams had to:

#1: To be able to accelerate and adapt digital products quickly and regularly to exceed the expectations of the target audience. Agility and continuous integration are the guiding principles.

#2: To adopt an empathetic and user-centric approach, putting customer needs and resources at the service of various business objectives of Monnaie de Paris. The platform should offer clear user journeys and undergo numerous testings to improve the user experience. User research was conducted through interviews with different target groups and usability testing on wireframes and prototypes throughout the project. The efforts continued after the site launch with a rich hypercare phase.

#3: Demonstrate increased coherence
As a cultural space, a public service, an online store, and a ticketing platform, Monnaie de Paris’ digital platform addresses various audiences with significantly different content and services. The challenge was to find overall coherence. To achieve this, we implemented a consistent interface for diverse audiences, creating a genuine link that connects the brand’s different realms.

#4: Create a structured eCommerce platform with native functionalities and specific developments.
Monnaie de Paris desired a technological platform that relied on market solutions and offered suitable functional services. The process of identifying the appropriate tools was crucial in this context.

Our experts utilized off-the-shelf functionalities rather than custom development, opted for Atomic Design and Design System to maintain a consistent interface, and developed specific modules for tasks such as engraving and personalization of medals, multi-VAT bundles, and the localization of tourist medals on the map.

More than just a website redesign, we have undertaken an approach that leverages digital transformation both internally and externally, involving our clients in the process.

The decision to use Adobe Commerce is based on the functional richness of the solution, which allows us to manage content, create customer journeys by segment, and optimize these journeys through data collection and analysis.

With this solution, Monnaie de Paris acquired tools entirely dedicated to content optimization, such as a new content management system and a search engine, along with business tools for SEO optimization and sales management processes. Monnaie de Paris regularly enriches its product offering, with traffic spikes that can multiply by 100 during the release of new collections or events. A robust, reliable, scalable, and secure platform was required to meet these needs while ensuring secure transactions.

… And challenges well managed by our teams:

#1: Diverse Target Audiences and Needs
The objective here is to create inspirational and emotional user journeys around the content. To address each target audience, we created distinct universes characterized by specific color codes that are consistent throughout the navigation. To help different user profiles quickly find their way around the site, we implemented persona-based access at the top of the page.

#2: Striking the Right Balance between eCommerce, Cultural, and Institutional Universes
Monnaie de Paris opted for a clean navigation design by creating 3 access points for the eCommerce, cultural, and institutional universes. This way, visitors can quickly understand the institution’s three main activities. In designing the homepage, we chose a visual triptych so that each department within Monnaie de Paris could have a dedicated space for expression, and different environments would always be represented.

#3: Technicality of Products and Diversity of Themes (Harry Potter, Olympics, Natures of France…)
How to engage with numismatists during the Covid period to understand their buying habits, frustrations, and expectations around the new Monnaie de Paris website? Our agency infiltrated major coin and medal collectors’ forums! These valuable field feedbacks allowed us to propose the necessary functions and build user journeys for Monnaie de Paris.

#4: Multiple Distribution Channels and Customer/User Contact Points
The ergonomics of the new platform were designed with an omnichannel approach, prioritizing the mobile-first experience. We used Adobe Commerce as the technical foundation, connecting user devices, ticketing, ERP, CRM, the online store, and product data management through Akeneo PIM.

Technical solutions implemented:

Adobe Commerce Cloud Managed Services with MAGENTO 2

• Atomic Design and Design System to maintain a consistent interface
• Development of specific modules (engraving and personalization of medals, multi-VAT bundle…)
• Page Builder
• Staging & Preview
• Adobe Sensei-powered optimized product recommendations
• Efficient search engine: ElasticSearch
• Technology
• Manifest PWA
• Google Shopping
• Verified Reviews
• Kameleoon (AB Testing)
• Oney
• Paypal
• Ingenico Payments
• Dolist customer management
• Akeneo PIM product management

The project was managed using Agile methodology. Progress was organized into sprints, closely involving our client. This approach allows for continuous learning and adaptation throughout the project stages, resulting in efficient resource utilization and a project delivered in line with client expectations.