Popken Fashion Group Sets the Standard for Seamless Ecommerce

Plus-size fashion leader elevated online experiences with unmatched performance and security through long-standing Akamai partnership

As we’ve grown our online business over the years, Akamai provides the solutions we need to continually take our performance and security to the next level — and that translates to the best online shopping experience.

Henning Rogge, Head of Online Shop Development & Project Management, Popken Fashion Group

Redefining plus-size fashion around the world

For over 140 years, Popken Fashion Group has been a trusted name in plus-size fashion, bringing its true-size clothing to customers worldwide through its brands Ulla Popken, Laurasøn, Studio Untold, HAPPYsize, and JP1880. As a multichannel retailer, Popken spans more than 30 countries with a vibrant presence across online stores, brick-and-mortar locations, catalogs, and leading marketplaces like Amazon and Zalando. To support its growing online business, this international fashion company has partnered with Akamai for nearly a decade to ensure smooth operations, robust security, and a frictionless customer experience across the globe.

Delivering seamless shopping experiences across borders

Over his 17 years at Popken, Henning Rogge has spearheaded the evolution of the company’s digital strategy. As the Head of Online Shop Development & Project Management, he oversees the development and operation of Popken’s expansive online presence. While the retailer’s brick-and-mortar sales remain steady, its online business continues to thrive, extending the company’s reach through marketplaces and country-specific ecommerce sites. “With a strategy to be the leading global retailer in plus-size fashion, our online shop is our most important channel,” Rogge explained.

So shoppers around the world can easily access and purchase the best plus-size brands, Rogge’s lean development team focuses on creating exceptional shopping experiences by leveraging Akamai’s expertise and innovative solutions. “This best-of-breed strategy allows us to deliver seamless, secure, high-performing experiences to customers worldwide via our biggest revenue-generating channel,” he continued.

Fortifying against cyberthreats

In 2016, Popken began its partnership with Akamai to defend against denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. At the time, Popken’s hosting provider managed the retailer’s online shops on premises, but traditional firewalls proved insufficient against growing cyberthreats. Akamai’s content delivery services and App & API Protector brought world-class protection, ensuring uninterrupted service.

When Popken migrated to SAP Commerce on Microsoft Azure Cloud and a responsive web design, it took just two clicks to apply Akamai’s protections. “For us, there is no alternative to Akamai,” Rogge emphasized, highlighting the simplicity and effectiveness of Akamai’s security measures.

Mitigating bot traffic for real shoppers

Throughout the years, Akamai’s expert-led workshops and security audits have been instrumental in helping Popken stay ahead of emerging cybersecurity challenges. One example is how the retailer is addressing the growing volume of bot traffic.

To distinguish legitimate shoppers from unwanted bot traffic, Popken turned to Akamai. High traffic volumes were previously skewed by nonhuman interactions, which strained the Popken platform and hindered the shopping experience. With Akamai’s help, Popken identified and mitigated bot activity, freeing bandwidth for real customers and better scaling its platform. “Akamai revealed that bots were responsible for 71% of attack traffic during one phase,” explained Rogge.

As Rogge noted, Popken is committed to ensuring customer data remains safe and online shopping experiences are frictionless, even as bots and AI become more prevalent. “Akamai’s global visibility equipped us to detect and handle over 217 million bot requests in a three-month period alone. Combine this unparalleled view with Akamai’s technology and services, and we are equipped to stay on the cutting edge of ecommerce and ahead of the competition.”

Optimizing performance for maximum conversions

In addition to addressing these cybersecurity concerns, Popken was able to improve site performance using Akamai solutions. Knowing it’s essential to deliver high-quality visuals quickly online, Popken chose Akamai Image & Video Manager to streamline its image optimization process.

Previously, Popken’s in-house team manually handled image transformations. Now Akamai automatically transforms product photos for the best quality and format based on shoppers’ devices and connectivity. “Our team focuses on capturing and uploading high-quality product photos. Akamai’s solution handles the rest,” said Rogge.

Additionally, advanced caching options on Akamai’s CDN ensure that pages load instantly, even during traffic surges. “Performance is key for conversion optimization. With Akamai, our site is always available and pages load instantly, regardless of traffic volume,” he noted.

Streamlining growth with future-ready solutions

As Popken continues its mission to be a global leader in plus-size fashion, it relies on Akamai to navigate evolving challenges in ecommerce. To that end, Akamai’s proof-of-concept approach makes it easy for Popken to test and adopt new solutions, ensuring its online platform remains secure and scalable. “Akamai makes it simple to evolve with our growing needs, helping us reliably deliver the best possible experience for our customers,” Rogge said.

Most recently, the company tested Akamai Client-Side Protection & Compliance to safeguard customer data and enhance compliance with PCI DSS standards. “This Akamai solution can protect our customers from data exfiltration and JavaScript threats while on our checkout page. It’s just another example of how Akamai helps optimize the online experience for all our shoppers, enabling us to achieve our ambitious global plans,” Rogge concluded.

About Popken Fashion Group

Popken Fashion Group is an internationally operating, family-run fashion company specializing in true-size fashion. The collection of our five brands Ulla Popken, Laurasøn, Studio Untold, HAPPYsize, and JP1880 are being sold in approximately 200 stores, as well as through our online shops with 2,000 employees in over 30 countries.

About Akamai

Akamai is the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online. Our market-leading security solutions, superior threat intelligence, and global operations team provide defense in depth to safeguard enterprise data and applications everywhere. Akamai’s full-stack cloud computing solutions deliver performance and affordability on the world’s most distributed platform. Global enterprises trust Akamai to provide the industry-leading reliability, scale, and expertise they need to grow their business with confidence. Learn more at akamai.com and akamai.com/blog, or follow Akamai Technologies on X and LinkedIn.


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