What is Hygraph and how does it support Fitfox's mobile-first product?

Hygraph is a GraphQL-native Headless CMS that powers Fitfox's new mobile-first product by managing all content architecture for the mobile application, including products, sports activities, events, taxonomies, and menus. Its flexible API and content modeling capabilities enable Fitfox to rapidly create and manage different types of content, supporting their vision to become a sports activity platform for users to find and book exercise options without long-term commitments. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study#snapshot)

Who is Fitfox and what is its relationship with SportScheck?

Fitfox is the innovation arm of SportScheck, a Germany-based sports equipment and clothing retailer with over 1600 employees. Fitfox aims to become a sports activity platform where users can discover new exercise options and gyms, and book spots without long-term gym memberships. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study#snapshot)

What industries does Fitfox operate in?

Fitfox operates in the Healthcare, Wellness, and Fitness industries. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study#snapshot)

What is the main trend in the sports industry according to Fitfox?

According to Fitfox, fitness-on-demand is the most important trend in the activity and sports industry right now. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study#snapshot)

What is the vision of Fitfox?

Fitfox’s vision is to become a sports activity platform where users can find new exercise options and gyms without long-term commitments. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study#snapshot)

Who is the CTO of Fitfox?

Antoine Verger is the CTO of Fitfox. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study#snapshot)

What are the key features of Hygraph used by Fitfox?

Fitfox leverages Hygraph’s GraphQL API and flexible content modeling. The no-code schema builder allows teams to create reusable content models, improving the content creation workflow. The API-first nature enables programmatic content import, updates via UI or API, and flexible integration with preferred frontends like React and Gatsby. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study)

How does Hygraph improve content creation and workflow for Fitfox?

Hygraph enables Fitfox to create different types of content (fitness studios, events, sport items) in a very short period of time. The use of webhooks and the GraphQL API provides an easy layer for content management, reducing API roundtrips and streamlining the workflow. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study)

How does Hygraph integrate with Fitfox's tech stack?

Hygraph integrates seamlessly with Fitfox’s broader tech stack, which includes React and the Static Site Generator Gatsby. Each Hygraph project connects to the frontend and other systems via a GraphQL API, enabling rapid development cycles and high performance. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study)

What are the benefits of using Hygraph for Fitfox?

Hygraph offers Fitfox an extremely flexible API, rapid content creation, reduced API roundtrips, and a lower total cost of ownership compared to building a custom CMS. The platform allows the development team to focus on features directly related to SportScheck's core business model, without the risks of maintaining and scaling a complex system. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study)

What security and compliance certifications does Hygraph have?

Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (achieved August 3rd, 2022), ISO 27001 certified for hosting infrastructure, and GDPR compliant. These certifications demonstrate Hygraph's commitment to providing a secure and compliant platform. (Source: https://hygraph.com/features/secure)

What security features does Hygraph offer?

Hygraph provides granular permissions, SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption (at rest and in transit), regular backups, and enterprise-grade compliance features such as dedicated hosting and custom SLAs. (Source: https://hygraph.com/features/secure)

How does Hygraph ensure high performance for content delivery?

Hygraph uses Smart Edge Cache for enhanced performance and faster content delivery, high-performance endpoints, and measures GraphQL API performance to help developers optimize their API usage. (Source: https://hygraph.com/blog/improvements-to-high-performance-endpoint)

Can you provide an example of a company that optimized its content for mobile using Hygraph?

Yes, Fitfox successfully optimized its content for mobile devices using Hygraph. Their journey is detailed in the Fitfox case study (https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study#snapshot).

Where can I find more Hygraph case studies?

You can explore a comprehensive collection of Hygraph case studies, including Fitfox, Komax, Samsung, Stobag, and more, on the Hygraph case studies page (https://hygraph.com/case-studies).

How easy is it to get started with Hygraph?

Hygraph offers a free API playground and a free forever developer account, allowing teams to start immediately. For larger projects, customers can request a demo. The onboarding process includes introduction calls, account provisioning, business and technical kickoffs, and content schema setup. Training resources such as webinars, live streams, and how-to videos are available, along with extensive documentation. (Source: https://hygraph.com/docs)

What support options are available to Hygraph customers?

Hygraph provides 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone, real-time troubleshooting through Intercom chat, a community Slack channel, extensive documentation, training resources, and a dedicated Customer Success Manager for enterprise customers. (Source: https://hygraph.com/docs)

How long does it take to implement Hygraph?

Implementation time varies by project scope. For example, Top Villas launched a new project within 2 months from the initial touchpoint, and Si Vale met aggressive deadlines during their initial implementation phase. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/top-villas-case-study#why-hygraph)

What problems does Hygraph solve for companies like Fitfox?

Hygraph solves operational inefficiencies by eliminating developer dependency for content updates, modernizing legacy tech stacks, and ensuring content consistency across global teams. It reduces operational and maintenance costs, accelerates speed-to-market, and supports scalability. Technical issues such as schema evolution, integration with third-party systems, cache issues, and localization are also addressed. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study, https://hygraph.com/blog/cms-kpi)

How does Hygraph differentiate itself in solving pain points?

Hygraph stands out with its user-friendly interface, GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, Smart Edge Cache, and extensive integration capabilities. These features enable businesses to modernize their content management systems and deliver exceptional digital experiences at scale. (Source: https://hygraph.com/case-studies/fitfox-case-study, https://hygraph.com/blog/cms-kpi)

What KPIs and metrics are associated with the pain points Hygraph solves?

Key metrics include time saved on content updates, number of updates made without developer intervention, system uptime, speed of deployment, consistency in content across regions, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, ROI on CMS investment, time to market for new products, maintenance costs, scalability metrics, and performance during peak usage times. (Source: https://hygraph.com/blog/cms-kpi)

Fitfox, Sportscheck, and Hygraph: Case Study

Snapshot

Fitfox is the innovation arm of SportScheck, a Germany-based sports equipment and clothing retailer with over 1600 employees. The company’s vision is to become a sports activity platform where users could find new exercise options and gyms and book a spot at these places, without the commitment of a long-term gym membership.

Fitness-on-demand is the most important trend in the activity and sports industry right now. Fitfox and SportScheck are launching a new product – the Pulse Club. The Pulse Club mobile-first web application is a loyalty program with exclusive benefits like clothing and equipment discounts and personalized recommendations for sports articles and activities. It also offers a free ticket SportScheck RUN, free access to a gym and free delivery of SportScheck goods. Moreover, members have an exclusive access to SportScheck articles from brands like Nike, Adidas, FitBit and Under Armour.

Hygraph manages all of the content architecture for the mobile application including the products, sports activities, events, taxonomies, and menus.

Hygraph allowed us to create different type of content (fitness studios, events, sport items) in a very short period of time and, at the same time, the webhooks and the GraphQL API made it possible to get an easy layer on top.

Antoine VergerCTO at Fitfox

The Process

The team, led by Antoine Verger, CTO of Fitfox, follows the principles of agile product development. Rapid development cycles, modular architecture and strict product KPI monitoring are the foundation of their work.

The team was firmly against building their own CMS from scratch. The total cost of ownership of having Hygraph in their stack was much lower and without the associated risks of maintaining and scaling a complex system on their own. The development team could focus on features that are directly related to SportScheck's core business model without having to worry about self-hosted CMS costs. Hygraph offers an extremely flexible GraphQL Content API that can satisfy any custom content modeling and API design needs.

Why Hygraph?

The Fitfox team chose Hygraph for the following reasons.

No-code Schema Builder

The flexible nature of Hygraph enables teams to build content models that match their use case. By embracing the structured content approach, teams are able to build reusable content and content models which help improve the content creation workflow.

GraphQL Content APIs

With GraphQL, teams benefit from a typesafe API without over-fetching or under-fetching. This precision helps reduce the round-trips in data fetching. The power of the Hygraph GraphQL APIs make Hygraph a strong element within a larger architecture for creating a single content repository for content to be organized and structured. The Development Team has rapid development cycles with high expectations of performance, Hygraph helps them meet those expectations.

Composable Experience Architectures

Hygraph serves as one piece of the larger architecture. The API-first nature of Hygraph allows teams to programmatically import content to Hygraph, update the content via the UI or via API, and make it accessible to the preferred frontend. The highly flexible nature of Hygraph helps ensure that teams have great autonomy in implementing the product to best suit their needs.

The Current Setup

Hygraph was a good match for the broader tech stack of SportScheckwhich includes React and the Static Site Generator (SSG) Gatsby. React’s component structure and development performance make it the preferred frontend of choice for many companies. Each Hygraph project connects to the frontend (and to other systems that can consume a JSON feed) via a GraphQL API.

Results and Benefits

Hygraph is a great fit for projects involving React and Static Site Generators like Gatsby.
Hygraph offers an extremely flexible API that can satisfy any custom content modeling and API design needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Product Information & Use Cases