Standard Motor Products Redesign & Umbraco Build

The Challenge

SMP’s corporate and brand websites were running on Umbraco v7, a platform reaching end-of-life with limited flexibility and growing security risks. With their multilingual needs, robust product catalog, and separate audiences for corporate investors and customers, SMP required:

• A full rebuild and redesign on the latest CMS
• Compliance with ADA WCAG 2.1 standards
• Multilingual support (EN, ES, FR)
• Advanced SEO capabilities and analytics tracking
• Scalable infrastructure for ongoing brand launches
• Utilization of iFrames to incorporate product data on current sites (poor SEO performance and user experience)

Time was of the essence: Umbraco v7 was being sunsetted, so a transitional upgrade was necessary to maintain security compliance mid-project.

The Approach

Discovery & Strategy

We conducted stakeholder interviews, site audits, and collaborative workshops to define user needs, business objectives, and content challenges across both smpcorp.com and standardbrand.com (as well as all future brands to be migrated to the new platform).

Design & UX

We delivered:

• Figma-based modular design systems
• Custom wireframes for 12–15 unique templates
• Streamlined layouts optimized for product search and investor information
• Design compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA standards
• Custom user guided funnel allowing visitors quick access to condensed website content
• Fully integrated external hosted product catalog with over 750,000 SKUs. No more iFrames!

Technical Execution

• Full rebuild on Umbraco v13
• Responsive, multilingual component-based architecture
• Custom "Where to Buy" module with geolocation, radius search, and Excel import
• Integration with Swiftype Search, Google Maps, and GA4
• CMS editorial flexibility: every component configurable with fonts, spacing, layout control
• Interim upgrade from Umbraco v7.7.6 to v7.15.10 to maintain patch support during buildout

What's Next

The successful launch of SMP’s new corporate and brand sites was just the beginning. With a modern, modular CMS infrastructure now in place, Scandia and SMP are entering a new phase focused on expansion, optimization, and ongoing innovation.

Expansion of the Brand Ecosystem

With over 15 brand properties in the SMP portfolio, the new CMS architecture serves as the blueprint for future rollouts. Scandia is working alongside SMP to launch additional brand sites using the shared component and design system, dramatically reducing time-to-market and maintaining consistency across the digital ecosystem.

Continued Optimization and Support

Post-launch, our team is engaged through a monthly maintenance retainer that includes proactive monitoring, ADA and SEO audits, and implementation of new functionality. We’re supporting SMP’s marketing and IT teams by refining editor tools, optimizing performance, and analyzing usage data to improve the user journey across all properties.

New Features and Personalization

Looking forward, we’re exploring advanced personalization strategies to serve both B2B and B2C users more effectively. This includes contextual content recommendations, enhanced product discovery experiences, and improved integration with SMP’s internal tools and data platforms.

A Strategic Digital Partnership

Scandia’s role has evolved from implementer to strategic partner—one that SMP can rely on to support digital growth, maintain compliance, and continuously push the envelope on what’s possible within their web ecosystem.