- Shopify Plus Migration
- UX & UI
- Custom product builder
- Data Protection
- Data Migration
- Core SEO
Equestrian Supplies Retailer, Equiport, were looking to move to Shopify from a custom-built web platform.
For most if not all eCommerce brands, due to the improved ease of use and the speed at which you can make changes to your online store, moving to Shopify is extremely worthwhile. However, that’s not to say the process is without its challenges.
Understanding this, but ultimately wanting a more stripped back and streamlined business hub, Equiport trusted us with handling their web migration, which would include carefully handling all of their existing customer data, building custom functionalities, and much more.
The Challenge
Shopify’s high hurdles
The primary challenge for the migration was the complexity of Equiport’s products. For some products, Equiport sought to give customers the ultra-personalised product offering you’d get through a one-on-one consultation with a sales representative, online. However, this meant that a singular product listing could have hundreds of variants.
Out of the box, Shopify currently limits a product to three customisation options and 2000 product variants. So we were going to have to build a custom functionality in order for this essential part of the customer experience to be maintained on Equiport’s new Shopify Site.
Keeping data in its stable
The migration presented another challenge too. As Equiport were using a purpose-built platform, their existing customer data wasn’t categorised in the standardised formats of other eCommerce platforms such as Magento or BigCommerce. This meant there wasn’t an existing API we could use to export the data into Shopify, but it was crucial that this customer data was maintained.
- Shopify Plus Migration
- Data Migration
- Custom development work
The Solution
Taking the reins on a custom build
The first major hurdle to jump over (Pun fully intended) was the custom product builder. Let’s take the Fleece Show Rug as an example to illustrate the complexity we were faced with. This product has a maximum of 17 product options to build your product of choice, and thousands of possible combinations, with each combination having a different price attached to it.
Our approach was to make each addition to the base product its own product, essentially creating a huge bundle builder within one product page.
By building each option as a meta-object, we were able to give Equiport the ability to build out each new option from a new range of options, which weren’t natively available within Shopify, such as the colour swatches and fonts defined within products. The customer is also not able to add these composable products to their cart, until they have chosen each option, cutting out any unfillable orders from making their way through the cracks.
Taking this methodology a step further, as we were able to edit the checkout in Shopify Plus, we were able to list all of the additional pricing options under one product.
This meant that a customer would only see their one hero product, but Equiport would know all of the smaller add ons that made it up too. Additionally, we made sure that all variants were tax compliant internationally. As not only did the hero product have its own VAT, but so too did each add on.
Taming the data to ensure customer satisfaction
The data migration would be equally important to the success of the new Equiport site. As both Equiport and us wanted to maintain Equiport’s strong relationship with their existing customers.
We were first able to get a mass data export from Equiport’s old website by directly reaching out to the development team. By reconfiguring this export so that it would work with Shopify’s API for a data import, it was smooth sailing on the horizon. We were then able to transfer this data into the new Equiport Shopify site, ensuring that all email marketing and CRM could be maintained.
The Outcome
The promises of running your business on Shopify are so well known that many retailers don’t fully appreciate them. But regardless of if you’re making the move to Shopify basic, Shopify Advanced, or, like Equiport, Shopify Plus, you’ll instantly benefit from the reduced total cost of ownership and the ease of use of running your business online. For Equiport, these benefits were almost instantaneously felt, giving them a site that’s much easier to maintain and update with new products.
If this is a journey you’re looking to go on for your business, make sure you do so with guidance from an experienced and knowledgeable team like us. Let’s talk.
Every great relationship starts with a conversation. We’d love to talk with you about your next project and answer any questions you might have about Shopify. But be warned… once we get talking about this stuff, it’s hard to shut us up!
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