I built Buckingham Cookware’s existing ecommerce website over ten years ago, and until this day, it was still running on the same outdated bespoke ecommerce platform. Buckingham Cookware got in touch with me recently, as their website was regularly breaking whenever the web hosts upgraded server software.
After some discussion, I recommended switching the platform to something more up-to-date and easy to manage and maintain. And to a platform that would help them to push sales. Their current website needed to be optimised for mobile, and the website migration had to be completed as quickly as possible.
Requirements
- To migrate the website data to a different e-commerce platform. Shopify was chosen for this.
- Make the new website mobile-friendly.
- To keep costs as low as possible.
Work scope
To get the new Shopify website up and running as quickly as possible, I recommended using the Shopify theme that comes pre-installed with every instance – “Dawn”. The latest Dawn theme version features all the core functionality that would make it easy for me to apply content and styling without delving into any underlying liquid code.
Data migration
Data from the existing ecommerce platform could be exported as a CSV file, which made it easy to convert into the format required by Shopify. There were only 200 products, so prepping the data wasn’t too time-consuming. The existing data enabled me to create product collections within the import file automatically.
Shopify can upload product images via a URL reference in their CSV file format, so I uploaded all the photos provided by the client to a temporary Google Storage bucket. Each image file was named with the SKU so they could be linked to their corresponding product data.
Once the CSV file was prepped correctly, it was just a matter of uploading it into Shopify using their admin tools.
The store’s design
For usual ecommerce website projects, I design and build a bespoke theme for the Client tailored to their industry, brand and business. However, for this small project, this step was skipped to keep costs very low.
The pre-installed “Dawn” theme was configured for the storefront. Using Dawn to set up the store’s design was a breeze. It’s fully customisable, so I uploaded the logo and tweaked font styles and colours to look presentable. The only drawback of using the pre-installed theme is that it looks very similar to other websites in terms of layout and design.
Remaining content and setup
The remaining tasks involved copying the page content (policies, about us, terms and conditions, etc.) across from the old website. And finally, add the domain by updating the DNS. We also shut down the old web hosting as there’s no need for it with Shopify.
Timeframe and costings
Migrating the website took one day to complete for £360/A$480 per day. As with any ecommerce website, additional work must be done, such as installing Google Analytics, SEO tweaks and marketing.
Check out the website at www.buckingham-cookware.co.uk.