Nordic Wellness

Background

As Sweden's largest fitness chain, with more than 400 clubs and over half a million members, Nordic Wellness had outgrown its 12-year-old website. Years of technical debt, disconnected systems and outdated technology made it increasingly difficult to scale the platform, manage content efficiently and deliver the digital experience members expected.

For Dear Friends, the challenge was about much more than replacing a website. The goal was to consolidate memberships, bookings, e-commerce, content and multiple third-party services into one cohesive platform that would support both rapid business growth and day-to-day editorial work.

Solution

Using Umbraco CMS as the foundation, Dear Friends designed and built a unified digital platform that brings together content management, memberships, class bookings, e-commerce and member services in a single solution.

The platform is built on a modular, component-based architecture with more than 20 custom document types and a structured content model. By combining reusable content blocks with clear governance, editors can independently manage more than 400 club pages, campaigns, landing pages and news while maintaining a consistent experience across the organisation.

One of the project's key objectives was making a highly complex platform feel simple to use. Umbraco's flexibility allowed us to create tailored editorial workflows that hide technical complexity behind an intuitive editing experience, enabling content teams to work efficiently without developer support.

Impact

Connecting the entire member journey

A seamless customer experience depended on integrating Umbraco with Nordic Wellness' core business systems.

Through deep integration with BRP Systems, memberships, subscriptions, bookings, schedules and training history are synchronised in real time. Visitors can complete their entire membership journey online, selecting a club, choosing a membership and securely signing agreements using BankID and Assently.

The platform also includes integrated e-commerce with Klarna payments, personalised member services and integrations with Mediaflow, Google Maps, Matchi, SendGrid, Cloudflare Turnstile and Sentry. To ensure consistency across digital touchpoints, the Nordic Wellness mobile app retrieves content directly from Umbraco.

One platform, two brands

Nordic Wellness also operates the premium fitness concept Grand Fitness. Rather than maintaining separate CMS installations, Dear Friends implemented a multisite solution that allows both brands to be managed within the same Umbraco instance, including both apps. Editors benefit from shared functionality and streamlined administration while each brand maintains its own identity and content.

The outcome

By combining Umbraco's flexibility with a carefully planned architecture, Dear Friends delivered a platform capable of supporting one of Sweden's largest fitness organisations without sacrificing usability.

Today, Nordic Wellness manages more than 400 clubs and over half a million members through a single, scalable digital ecosystem. Editors have full control over content, members enjoy a seamless digital experience, and the business has a future-ready platform that can continue evolving as new needs emerge.